Robert Titus Ritchie ’53

Bob came to Princeton from Evanston Township (Ill.) High School, majored in economics, served as treasurer of Tower, and graduated magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was operations officer of the Navy destroyer U.S.S. Noa. He married Joan Nelson, whom he had met at Houseparties. Clubmate Frorer recalls that Bob definitely was a ladies’ man. At junior prom, Bob, who was dateless, “stole” Frorer’s girl away from him.  

Bob’s business career spanned some 40 years in marketing-research services for corporations, first in Chicago and later in the San Francisco Bay area. He was proudest of fathering and raising daughter Susan Sipple, a 1986 graduate of UCLA; and son John N., who finished at UC, San Diego in 1988; and being the grandfather of four “spectacular” grandchildren, Taylor, Kelsey, and Lindsay Sipple, and Annalisa Ritchie. Bob regarded his children and grandchildren as “the worthwhile achievement” of his lifetime.

We sadly say farewell to Bob, a consummate family man and an unwavering friend.