Albert F. Ridinger

Albert Fraher Ridinger died peacefully in his home in Stuart, Florida on March 12, 2024. Al, an only child, was born July 8, 1926 to the late Mary (Fraher) and Albert Ridinger. He was the beloved husband of Nancy (Bo) Perkins for 57 years until her death in 2008; he was married to Marilyn Crape until her death in 2015, and is survived by his beloved wife, Sandee Ferrel Ridinger, and his children, Kate, Al, Willa and Richard Ridinger. He was predeceased by his daughter, Kristin, and great-grandson, Christopher. He is survived by his eleven grandchildren, Becca and Will Bagnall, Amelia and John Marosek, Kate, Bellamy, Bowman, and Albert Ridinger, Sarah, Matthew, and Timothy Taurchini, his sister-in-law, Sally Perkins DeGennaro, and many nieces, nephews and stepchildren.

As a youth, Al worked at A.D. Ridinger grocery store on State St., and started driving the delivery truck at 16. In June 1944, Al graduated from St. Mary’s in New Haven, turned 18 the next month and immediately enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he was helmsman aboard the destroyer, U.S.S. Walker. After the war, he returned to Yale University, graduating in 1950. At the age of 28, he started his own insurance agency, and then merged to form Insurance Management, Inc., where he worked for the remainder of his career. Throughout his life, Al served on numerous professional boards and charitable organizations, including the Evergreen Cemetery Board as President Emeritus. Notably he was president of the “Big I” – the Independent Insurance Agents of America, Chairman of the Woodbridge Board of Education when Beecher School South was built, on the building committee for the Woodbridge Town Library. He was past president of the New Haven Country Club, Quinnipiac Club, the Woodbridge Club, Albertus Magnus Board of Trustees and many more.

Al loved sports, paddle, baseball, tennis, bowling, but especially golf, playing until the age of 96. He was competitive, especially around the greens, but always a gentleman. A savvy card player, he played bridge until his death. When he wasn’t playing, he was an avid spectator; for years, he ran the play clock from the press box at all Yale football games. Al was a kind, generous, honest man and at the untimely death of his father-in-law, Al, at 25 years old, became the patriarch of a large extended family who loved and respected “Big Al.” He moved to Woodbridge in 1955, but eventually moved to Mariner Sands in Stuart, FL. Al spent many weekends in Narragansett, RI. When he fully retired at 72, he still came to Connecticut to see family, and spent summers in Quechee, VT, his vacation home since 1979. Al traveled for business and pleasure, even into his nineties with his wife, Sandee. He was a sharp businessman, great with numbers, doing Sudoku and jigsaw puzzles right up to his death.

Friends are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial on Monday, March 25th at 10:00 a.m. in Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 81 Center Rd., Woodbridge, followed by Burial with Military Honors in St. Lawrence Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations in Al’s memory can be made to the Kristin Ridinger Scholarship at the Hopkins School, 986 Forest Rd., New Haven, CT 06515. Arrangements in care of Beecher & Bennett Funeral Home, 2300 Whitney Ave., Hamden.