Ronald is survived by his wife Barbara of 32 years; his children (from a previous marriage) Noah Harrison Ripps of Groton, MA, and Rebecca Garber of Ft. Collins, CO, and grandchildren Linnea, Solomon, and Magnus Ripps, and Zach and Sam Garber. He was preceded in death by his parents Saul and Florence Ripps, and sister Lynda Kaloides.
Ron was born on May 6, 1943, in Bridgeport, CT, and spent his early school years in New Haven. He attended Hamilton College in NY, graduating with honors with a degree in biology. After college he earned his medical degree in 1968, at the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, MA. He went on to complete a number of internships and residencies on his path to becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
During the Vietnam War, Ron served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Strategic Air Command, Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, TX. He worked as a Chief Flight Surgeon for the base from 1970 to 1972, and during this time he made some of his closest lifelong friends.
Ronald was licensed in 1971 to practice medicine in CT, and certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery in 1976. He was a founder and the senior partner of Connecticut Family Orthopedics (originally called Ripps, Skolnick, and Schweitzer, PC) where he worked from 1975 to 2020. He also served as Attending Chief of the Orthopedic Section of Danbury Hospital from 1991 to 1992. Conservatively he is estimated to have performed five thousand surgeries during his career. Starting in 2000, Ronald was also certified as an Independent Medical Examiner and continued to perform IMEs after he retired from surgical practice in 2008.
Upon his retirement from surgical practice, he was honored as Surgeon of the Year by the Connecticut Orthopedic Society. Ronald also served as a member of the Danbury Hospital Ethics Committee, and towards the end of his professional career, he worked at the orthopedic clinic where he loved his patients, the staff, and the residents that he trained.
Outside of his professional life, Ron Ripps was a passionate fisherman and adventurer. He traveled worldwide in pursuit of rare fishing opportunities, panoramic rivers to run with his family, and new places to experience. He co-owned a fishing boat out of Barnstable, MA for ocean fishing, and for decades he made an annual trip to the Miramichi River for spring salmon fishing. Later he also made trips to the Florida Keys for tarpon, bonefish, and permit. His only lament was that he hadn’t achieved the “triple crown” of catching each of those fish in a single day. The favorite family trips of Ron’s were guided multi-day river camping journeys by canoe. These trips brought Ron and his family to many parts of Maine and Quebec Province, but also to Texas and even Iceland. Ron’s other hobbies included ham radio operation, carpentry, sculpture, model building, and fabric needlework.
A memorial service for Ronald is scheduled for Friday, December 16, 2022 at 1:00 pm at Congregation Shir Shalom, 46 Peaceable St., Ridgefield CT.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to your local food bank, to the Bridgewater, CT Volunteer Fire Department (https://www.bridgewater-ct.gov/fire-ems), or to the First Cast youth mentoring program of the Miramichi Salmon Association (https://miramichisalmon.ca/donate/#How)
