Francis V. Ranzoni

Francis V. (Frank) Ranzoni died peacefully in his sleep Sunday, September 24, 2006 in his home in Des Moines, WA. Francis was born in Los Angeles, CA, the son of William V. Ranzoni and Nellie Best Ranzoni on November 29, 1916. He graduated from La Jolla High School and Santa Monica Junior college before enlisting in the Army Air Corps and being stationed in England during World War II. He attained the rank of Major and was honorably discharged in 1946. On December 22, 1947, he married Jane Hamilton. He never remarried after her death in 1987. Francis earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and moved to Poughkeepsie, NY in 1955 to teach botany at Vassar College. He retired in 1980 as an Emeritus Professor and moved to Sanibel Island, FL, where he spent the next 18 years volunteering at the Sanibel Public Library and growing and exhibiting orchids. He moved to Kent, WA in 1998 and later to Wesley Homes in nearby Des Moines. Francis is survived by a son, Marc William Ranzoni of Corvallis, OR and a daughter, Katherin Dee Ranzoni, of Kent, three grandsons and two great-granddaughters.