2003 Award Recipients
Robert C. Ringold ’52 (1928–2002)
Alumni Service Award
Robert C. Ringold, a beloved figure on the Macalester campus and devoted alumnus, was presented with the Alumni Service Award shortly before his death from cancer on Aug. 18, 2002. Bob Ringold was a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, an active participant in the Dismantling Racism Group, a member of his class reunion committee, and a friend and mentor to many students, faculty and staff. He was committed to social justice and to the students of Macalester.
“There’s the expression, ‘The world is run by those who show up.’ Luckily for us at Macalester, Bob always showed up, did the work and often brought a cooler full of pop as well. We miss him.”
Gabrielle Lawrence ’73
Director of Alumni Relations
“Bob made friends everywhere on campus,” said Alumni Director Gabrielle Lawrence ’73. “Students were drawn to his interest in people, his curiosity about the world and his solid commitment to action for social justice, and they kept in touch with him for years. Bob was active with the Dismantling Racism Group on campus and took additional workshops and training whenever they were available.
“There’s the expression, ‘The world is run by those who show up.’ Luckily for us at Macalester, Bob always showed up, did the work and often brought a cooler full of pop as well. We miss him,” Lawrence said.
An education and sociology major who played golf and hockey at Macalester, Ringold, who retired from his business in printing sales in 1994, worked as a self-employed sales consultant. In a class note he wrote for Mac Today in the fall of 2001, he noted that he and his wife, Nancy Hauser Ringold ’52, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Sept. 9, 2001. He and Nancy “want to thank Jim Nelson or whoever it was on the Community Council for asking us to be co-chairs of the 1950 Commencement Dance. That was the best planned dance Mac has ever had. That’s what got things rolling and the rest is history.”
In addition to his wife, Bob Ringold is survived by three sons, Robert Jr., Tom and William; four grandchildren; two sisters, Janet Woodside and Jone Dosser; and a brother, William H. Ringold Jr. ’50.