RIP Craig Schmidt - aka Frank Ridgeway

[Moderator1]

Just got some awfully sad news - Craig Schmidt died yesterday, per his brother in law's post on Facebook.

Hi folks, my name is Gary Basque, Craig's brother in-law. Unfortunately I need to pass along some sad news. Craig passed away yesterday 10/27/15 at his home in New Jersey.
We are in the process of making arrangements and setting up a memorial service and will share information as soon as we have the info.
Although this isn't the ideal way to share info, we figured it would be the easiest way to reach the most people in the shortest amount of time in hopes you could help pass along the news others.
Thank You,
Deb, Chris and Gary


Folks here are more familiar with Craig by his screen name. He posted as Frank Ridgeway and he was every bit a man of class and style. He took me under his wing when I became a Jersey resident. He drove from his home and picked me up and took me all over the state, from his favorite lunch spot in Newark to the Yogi Berra Museum to the Jersey shore and some spots Springteen liked to visit.

He was a great journalist and a terrific person. This is just terrible.

RIP Craig/Frank. I'm going to wear my spectators tomorrow in your honor. It meant the world to me when you complimented me on them.

 

[Small Town Guy]

Oh, no. Loved his insight, obviously. But loved meeting him too at the NYC gathering two years ago. Just seemed like a great guy. Damn it. RIP.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Well ****. Good board member.
Condolences to his family.

How old was he? Had been sick?
He hadn't posted here in while, right?

 

[Cosmo]

Damn. One of the good ones. RIP, and prayers/condolences to his family.

Since someone asked, he had posted within the last two weeks and was one of those laid off in the NY Daily News purge.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

RIP always enjoyed his posts.

 

[Moderator1]

Well ****. Good board member.
Condolences to his family.

How old was he? Had been sick?
He hadn't posted here in while, right?

He turned 56 in Auguest. We last corresponded about a month ago, not long after the layoffs at the Daily News. I don't think he'd been sick. He posted a bit on the Daily News thread.

 

[Dyno]

Horrible, sad news. My condolences to all who knew him. This is another big loss for the board.

 

[Riptide]

RIP, buddy. What a loss to us all. Craig told some of the best stories on this site, and he did it many, many times.

I hope he's smiling down at us now when I say it's a lock that Frank Ridgeway will be the best-dressed guy at his funeral.

 

[Small Town Guy]

He was a lot like Craig Stanke in this regard: Every time I saw his name on a post on the journalism board, I knew I was going to learn something.

 

[steveu]

Aw ****. I didn't know Craig personally but I always enjoyed his Frank posts. Sad news indeed. Thanks for letting us know.

 

[jr/shotglass]

A gentleman who never lost that trait. I will miss him greatly. RIP, Craig.

 

[Small Town Guy]

I always remembered this post from Frank. His rant about cursing in the newsroom. There are plenty of other less-vulgar posts of his that were great, and each of them are worth reading but this one...

York Publisher: No Cursing (or Snickers Bars) in the Newsroom | Page 3 | SportsJournalists.com

 

[ChrisLong]

Very sad news. I didn't know him but I certainly grew to have tremendous respect for him from his posts throughout the years. RIP, sir.

 

[cranberry]

A lot of people here on SJ.com love journalism, none more so than Craig. I enjoyed getting to know him better the past several years off the board, as well. He was a true gentleman.

 

[The Big Ragu]

What a bummer. My favorite Ridgeway interaction on here was when he got upset with me during a discussion about sack suits and vintage clothing, of all things. He was definitely the board sartorialist (and probably would be the first guy to tell me that isn't a word!). I really liked it when he weighed in on journalism-related threads. You knew you were hearing from a lifer. ... and one who was good at his trade. I was bummed out when he said he was part of the Daily News purge a few weeks ago. Just ****ty stuff all around.

 

[dixiehack]

Damn. Always liked seeing what he had to say.

Guess I'll go eat somewhere besides Olive Garden in his memory.

 

[JackReacher]

Man. That is terrible. I didn't know him personally, but I know plenty who did, and they all said he was the best.

RIP.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Much too young.

RIP Craig, you left a giant mark on this business, did it the right way and made it infinitely better.

 

[Songbird]

See ya in the Great Beyond, Craig. Thanks for posting here and letting us into your world.

 

[JR]

This is so sad. I never met Frank but every time he posted about journalism, I knew he was a consummate pro.

Like Ragu said, he was the board expert on men's clothing and style. For some reason, I remember one conversation where we discussed formal dressing. Based on his upbringing, tuxedos didn't qualify as formal. And yeah, he was right

RIP Craig/Frank.