Victor F. Ridder

Who was Victor F. Ridder?

Victor Frank Ridder was a newspaper publisher and civic leader in New York for many decades in the early 20th Century. Victor and his brothers Bernard H. Ridder and Joseph E. Ridder were the owners and publishers of the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, the premier daily newspaper of German-speaking residents of the New York City area, which they had inherited from their father Herman Ridder.

Victor Ridder was active in the Boy Scouts of America as a volunteer leader in New York for many years. In 1912, he helped organize New York's first Catholic parish troop, and within a couple of years became a National BSA volunteer with responsibility for promoting Catholic Scouting. He was a co-founder in 1922 of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, and was later recognized by the National Council BSA for his distinguished service to youth with the Silver Buffalo Award.

Ridder was survived by sons Walter Thompson Ridder, Robert Blair Ridder, daughter Joan Ridder Challinor and wife Marie Thompson Ridder.