Charles J. Ritter ’72

Charles J. Ritter ’72, of Port Charlotte, Fla., formerly of Jamestown, R.I.; May 12, of complications following open heart surgery.  He worked as a customer support engineer at Marc Analysis Research Corp. in Providence.  He left MARC in 1977 and founded Jordan, Apostal, Ritter Associates (JAR) in North Kingstown, a high technology research development and design support firm specializing in providing expertise in advanced computer methods for structural and interdisciplinary engineering analysis. JAR had undertaken many notable projects that Charles contributed to, including collaboration with Morton Thiokol in the redesign of NASA’s Space Shuttle solid rocket booster after the Challenger accident and structural analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope for PerkinElmer Corp. In addition, he was JAR’s sole investigator for other notable projects including ABIOMED’s artificial heart flexible diaphragm simulation and finite element analysis of the rotary joints that orient and rotate the antennas on the James Webb Space Telescope. For the last two decades his focus was on the structural and thermal finite element analysis of complex lithium-ion battery designs and the structural analysis of autonomous and unmanned underwater vehicles. In his younger days he was athletic and enjoyed skiing and bicycling, including 50-mile bicycle rides with the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen. He owned two Italian racing bicycles and also had a weakness for Porsche vehicles. He enjoyed sailing with his son and participating in races around Conanicut Island. He was an avid collector of antique oriental textiles. Because he often traveled to Japan for work in the 1980s, he and his family built a pole house, like those they’d seen in Japan, from a kit. The house, in Jamestown, R.I., where they lived for 29 years, was cited in Historic and Architectural Resources in Jamestown, Rhode Island, a publication of the Rhode Island Historic Preservation & Heritage Commission. It was also featured in a 2016 article published in the Providence Journal. His demanding professional life and frequent business trips did not leave much time for community activities but he did serve for several years on the board of the East Passage Neighborhood Association, and he was part of a team of volunteers who built a community playground for Jamestown children. He regularly donated money to support the Jamestown Philomenian Library and the Jamestown Volunteer Fire Department. He was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and served a term as president of ASME’s Providence chapter. He is survived by his wife, Teresa; a daughter and son-in-law; a son and daughter-in-law; a granddaughter; a sister; two brothers; and extended family.