RIP Craig Schmidt - aka Frank Ridgeway

Sad stuff...

 

spnited, SF Express, shockey, Frank_Ridgeway: that's an sj.com Mount Rushmore right there.

RIP, Craig.

 

Short story about the kind of guy "Frank" was:

He and I worked in the same shop for five years, but I took a gamble and left to run a smaller paper in another corner of the state. Turns out, Frank knew that area better than he knew the inside of a Brooks Brothers. He took a day off, picked me up early, kept me out late, and, in between, showed me every corner of the county and introduced me to everyone he knew. It was from him I learned where to always get a great cider doughnut, who sold the cheapest gas and, more importantly, where to find stories on those days when news just isn't happening.

I learned more about New Jersey in those 16 hours with him than the 10 years I lived there.

I'm not sure how many here know that Frank and Spnited were coworkers for several years. I hold Spnited in similar esteem.

A few weeks after starting at that downtrodden paper, I had to hire a sports editor. I posted the job here, and after a few hackles from the crowd, spnited jumped in, shut them up, and gave me the warmest public endorsement I think I've ever read. He's the only person who has ever called me a "hell of a newsman." Even I wasn't so sure about that.

I haven't lived anywhere near Frank or Spnited for years, but I will never forget their enthusiasm for good journalism and the good guys that practice it.

 

When Craig Schmidt was out of a job twice in the past two years, he didn't complain a bit about the layoffs or the people behind them ... or anything.

He just wanted to know where his next newsroom was, and to get back on the horse fast. He was such an impressive newspaper desker. Always hungry for more.

 

Damn. Damn, damn. I'm another who didn't know him except through the board as Frank, but when he posted, I knew enough to take the time to do myself a favor and read it.

Rest in peace, Craig.

 

Not to derail this thread, but does anyone know what happened to Frank? Did he just go to sleep and not wake up? Did he have a heart attack? I knew a sports editor down at the Northwest Florida Daily News that went home for an afternoon nap and never woke up. He was 50.

 

obit here:

Craig R. Schmidt's Obituary on APP.com

 

Goddamnit, this is awful, awful news. Stunned to read about it on Moddy's FB. Terrible.

Frank/Craig was such a kind and decent man, with more institutional newspaper knowledge in one ink-stained finger than most of us (myself certainly included) had in our entire bodies. I loved reading his reasoned takes on the industry, and felt emboldened when he agreed with something I wrote here or liked a journalism-related post I made on FB.

As many others have said, we have lost too many good people and core posters recently. And as was noted, Spnited & Frank worked together. I believe Frank posted after spnited's death that they knew who the other was on SJ, but neither one would ever mention it in real life. I like to think they're slyly ignoring each other's handles in heaven. RIP Frank/Craig, you were one of the best.

 

Although the two Craigs never met in person, they were good friends. They started their internet conversation in October, 2004. When Craig Schmidt created a word document in 2012, containing only Craig Stanke’s messages to him, it was over 150 pages. Frank (as I will refer to Craig Schmidt, since neither is here to edit this so it makes sense if I refer to both as Craig) gave me that document when he extended his friendship to me after Craig’s death. Of course, they talked newspapers and editing, but they also talked about their lives. I know how much Frank helped Craig with one of his greatest struggles.

Frank and Craig shared so much – their love of the newspaper business, of writing, of words. I laughed when Frank recently discussed the proper use of “career” and “careen” in his Facebook “Irritable Editor’s Grievance of the Week.” I received that same lecture from Craig over dinner one night. Frank may have had a little more of an edge than Craig, but at their cores they were the same. They were decent and kind men.

Because of their similarities and relationship, my friendship with Frank was a way of staying connected to Craig, as well as simply having a new good friend. That Frank would die in such similar circumstances as Craig – 56 years old, in seeming good health, suddenly, at home – I can barely wrap my mind around it.

For all of you: If your doctor says take blood pressure meds, take the damn meds. If your doctor recommends losing weight, lose the damn weight. If your doctor recommends some tests, take the damn tests. If you don’t feel right, go to the doctor. If the doctor doesn’t give you satisfactory answers, keep asking. Please do whatever you can to prevent your loved ones from going through what Craig’s family and I went through three years ago and what Frank’s wife and family are going through now.

Miss you, Craig. Both of you.

 

Words to live by -- literally. And add cigarette smoking (give it up) and bad eating habits (change them) to that list. As Amy said, if you won't do it for yourself, do it for those who care about you.

 

What? This sucks.