Ralph Rydholm

1937 - 2014

RYDHOLM, Ralph Williams, creatively directed a long and wonderful life and arrived at the end the way we all might hope to: at home, in his sleep, and surrounded by the family who loves him. He was born in Chicago in 1937 to parents Thor and Vivian, and spent most of his life in that city he adored. He graduated from Austin High School and then Northwestern University. After he enrolled to earn a master's degree in business from his alma mater, he had a big spat with a statistics professor over his tardiness for class. When Ralph felt right or wronged, he let you know it. The argument must have been a doozy because he dropped out of school. Knowing Ralph to be a wit with words and clever of mind, a friend suggested advertising. Phew. The ad biz was a great fit for a fellow with a sociologist's understanding of human behavior, a mathematician's grasp of logic, an actor's passion for performance, and a bard's knack for rhyme. Sometimes he was the audience: reflective and appreciative. Sometimes the showman: front and center. Sometimes the critic: questioning and validating. Over forty years, Ralph led creative departments at J. Walter Thompson Chicago, Ted Bates in New York, and Tatham, Laird, and Kudner, eventually rising to CEO at the latter. In one particular stretch of memorable work for brands like Burger King, Pepsi, and Ronco, he noted that everybody loves a burger when they can have it fixed their way, go halfway and you might as well stop, and the problem with buttons is they always come off. Ralph moonlighted as an amateur sleuth, swiftly solving mysteries he encountered in books, on TV, at the movies, or within his beloved Mohawk Street brownstone, which he bought in 1968 and obsessively refined. He loved to fix problems, be they in his home or body-he found joy in long afternoons with those who specialized in sewage systems, pest control, and dental work. He loved his wife, Jo, to whom he was married for more than fifty years. He wooed her relentlessly and stunned many when he won the account. The three kids that followed pursued some of his biggest passions. He loved music; his daughter Julia became a musician. He prized education; his daughter Kristin became a teacher. He consumed television; his son Erik became a TV producer. Together, Ralph and Jo traveled the world, but enjoyed no place more than the lakeshore of southwestern Michigan, where he landscaped the forest into a glorious spring flowering that inevitably became a salad bar for the local deer populace. He loved sports, devoting himself to Northwestern football, attending Bears' games religiously, and fruitlessly root, root, rooting for the Cubbies for his nearly 77 years. As an athlete, he could throw a tight spiral, hammer a hard serve, and occasionally make it off the first tee. But his whole family agrees that what may excited him most of all was the promise of a party. Dinner party, dance party, wedding party, pizza party-any party. He pointed proudly to ones of his own that featured high drama, loud music, and a dash of self-destruction. He knew something about everything, and so much about so many. He often said of himself, "I may not be a deep person, but I'm broadly shallow. And volumetrically, it's exactly the same." His family's love for him is both deep and broad and they miss him so much. In addition to his immediate family, he is survived by his sister, Virginia Rydholm Grimes, and her husband, Dale. A memorial gathering for friends and family will be scheduled. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages a donation to The Chicago High School for the Arts, or any other organization that inspires and fosters curiosity and a creative life.