1918
Hartien
2008
Hartien Sharp Ritter
October 13, 1918 — November 25, 2008
Hartien Sharp "Butch" Ritter, Ph.D.
Hartien Sharp "Butch" Ritter, Ph.D., died on November 25, 2008, in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey at the age of 90.
Dr. Ritter was born in 1918 in Iola, Kansas, where he met and married Charlotte Eloise Burtnett. She preceded him in death in 1996 after 55 years of marriage.
Dr. Ritter earned a Bachelor's Degree in chemistry from the University of Kansas and moved to Akron, Ohio in 1949 where he and Charlotte stayed for nearly 60 years. Dr. Ritter was employed as a research chemist and a manager at PPG Industries in Barberton, Ohio for 40 years. He earned a Master's degree in chemistry in 1954, and a Ph.D. in 1964, both from the University of Akron. Dr. Ritter moved to Madison, New Jersey in 2006, to live with his daughter and her family, and his son and daughter-in-law.
Surviving are daughter, Harriet Ritter; son- in- law, Dr. Barry Burd; and two grandchildren, Samuel Ritter Burd and Jennifer Burtnett Burd. Also surviving are his son, Christopher Sharp Ritter; and daughter-in-law, Janet Freda Ritter, both of Madison, N.J; nephews, Christopher Owen Ritter and his wife, Robin Platt, of Switzerland, and nephew, John Watson Ritter, of Big Sur, California. In addition, Butch treasured the friendship of Lore and Roland Roessner, and Kelly and Louis Adams of Akron.
Butch and Charlotte shared a passion for genealogy. They both unearthed impressive amounts of family history, and Butch even traced his ancestry to Umfridus, the first Laird of Luss in Scotland. After his wife's death in 1996, Butch published a book about Charlotte's genealogy called "From the Banks of Loch Lomond to the Prairies of Kansas -- the Ancestry of Charlotte Burtnett Ritter" Dr. Ritter belonged to The American Chemical Society, Alpha Chi Sigma, the Ohio Genealogical Society, First Families of Ohio, Westminster Presbyterian Church, and the Kiwanis Club of Norton.
Dr. Ritter was the youngest of five siblings: Neva Ritter Posch 1895-1968, Cassandra 1898-1960, Chris 1906-1976, and Huxley Ritter 1909-1980. From Butch's nephew: "What a run it was over his nine decades Butch and his father's lives spanned the elections of presidents 16 through 44. Hartien's stretch from Wilson to Obama is no less astonishing, what with his passage through two world wars, the Dust Bowl Days, the Great Depression Eine gute Reise, Uncle Butch." Happy Travels.
Service for family and friends will be held Thursday, December 4th, at 9:30 a.m. at the Billow FAIRLAWN Chapel, 85 N. Miller Road, with Rev. Derek Starr Redwine officiating. Entombment will follow at Rose Hill Burial Park. Friends may call at the funeral home from 9 a.m. until the service.
Hartien Sharp "Butch" Ritter, Ph.D., died on November 25, 2008, in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey at the age of 90.
Dr. Ritter was born in 1918 in Iola, Kansas, where he met and married Charlotte Eloise Burtnett. She preceded him in death in 1996 after 55 years of marriage.
Dr. Ritter earned a Bachelor's Degree in chemistry from the University of Kansas and moved to Akron, Ohio in 1949 where he and Charlotte stayed for nearly 60 years. Dr. Ritter was employed as a research chemist and a manager at PPG Industries in Barberton, Ohio for 40 years. He earned a Master's degree in chemistry in 1954, and a Ph.D. in 1964, both from the University of Akron. Dr. Ritter moved to Madison, New Jersey in 2006, to live with his daughter and her family, and his son and daughter-in-law.
Surviving are daughter, Harriet Ritter; son- in- law, Dr. Barry Burd; and two grandchildren, Samuel Ritter Burd and Jennifer Burtnett Burd. Also surviving are his son, Christopher Sharp Ritter; and daughter-in-law, Janet Freda Ritter, both of Madison, N.J; nephews, Christopher Owen Ritter and his wife, Robin Platt, of Switzerland, and nephew, John Watson Ritter, of Big Sur, California. In addition, Butch treasured the friendship of Lore and Roland Roessner, and Kelly and Louis Adams of Akron.
Butch and Charlotte shared a passion for genealogy. They both unearthed impressive amounts of family history, and Butch even traced his ancestry to Umfridus, the first Laird of Luss in Scotland. After his wife's death in 1996, Butch published a book about Charlotte's genealogy called "From the Banks of Loch Lomond to the Prairies of Kansas -- the Ancestry of Charlotte Burtnett Ritter" Dr. Ritter belonged to The American Chemical Society, Alpha Chi Sigma, the Ohio Genealogical Society, First Families of Ohio, Westminster Presbyterian Church, and the Kiwanis Club of Norton.
Dr. Ritter was the youngest of five siblings: Neva Ritter Posch 1895-1968, Cassandra 1898-1960, Chris 1906-1976, and Huxley Ritter 1909-1980. From Butch's nephew: "What a run it was over his nine decades Butch and his father's lives spanned the elections of presidents 16 through 44. Hartien's stretch from Wilson to Obama is no less astonishing, what with his passage through two world wars, the Dust Bowl Days, the Great Depression Eine gute Reise, Uncle Butch." Happy Travels.
Service for family and friends will be held Thursday, December 4th, at 9:30 a.m. at the Billow FAIRLAWN Chapel, 85 N. Miller Road, with Rev. Derek Starr Redwine officiating. Entombment will follow at Rose Hill Burial Park. Friends may call at the funeral home from 9 a.m. until the service.
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