William C. Ridgway III ’57

Bill died Sept. 14, 2025, of cancer in Connecticut.

He came to Princeton from Short Hills (N.J.) Country Day School and Andover. He was the son of William C. Ridgway Jr. 1929. At college he majored in electrical engineering and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Like his father and his Andover classmate and Princeton roommate, Gordon Mackenzie, he joined Charter Club. Bill was an officer for WPRB and nurtured a lifelong interest in radio. His senior roommates included Gordon and 14 others in the Rockefeller Suite.

Following graduation, Bill joined Bell Laboratories, which sent him for his M.E.E. degree at NYU and his Ph.D. at Stanford. While in California he married Cornelia C. Rogers, and they had three children, Elizabeth, Ashley, and Stuart. At Bell Labs he worked on the Nike-Zeus project and the Telstar project; he became head of the computer sciences department and eventually a corporate vice president. After a divorce, Bill married Carol Oco and welcomed three stepchildren, Leslie, Cynthia, and Eve.

After retiring from AT&T/Bell he worked for the State of New Jersey and then became president of his own company, R3 Information Systems. Leaving Short Hills, Bill settled in Old Lyme, Conn., and had a vacation home on Fishers Island, N.Y. He became a board member of Mystic Seaport and of Amistad America, which operates a replica of the ship captured by slaves who subsequently were freed by an American Court. He was also active in Fishers Island affairs, an accomplished model railroad enthusiast, and “an occasional golfer.”

Bill is survived by his wife, Carol; his three children and three stepchildren; and their families.