Robert Ringwald, a jazz pianist and music ambassador, died on August 3, according to his daughter, actress Molly Ringwald. He was 80 years old.
"Robert Scott Ringwald, known to most as Bob and to a select few as Dad and PopPop, died Tuesday," Molly Ringwald wrote in an obituary published in The Sacramento Bee on Saturday.
The official paraphrase ""It's with a sorrowful heart that my family says farewell to my father," the "Pretty in Pink" actress captioned a photo slideshow on Instagram. I feel extremely fortunate to have had him in my life for the length of time that I did."
There was no mention of a cause of death.
"A line from the song 'Old Bones,' which he frequently played in his latter years, summed up his attitude on living a complete life well-lived," Molly Ringwald wrote in her obituary tribute. "I love life, I’d like to live it again/Just to have the chance to turn back the hands/ And let my life begin/Oh yeah, I’d like to do it again."
Ringwald, who was born on November 26, 1940, in Roseville, California, with visual difficulties, turned blind at a young age. He began taking piano lessons at the age of five and formed his first band at the age of thirteen.
According to Molly Ringwald's obituary, her father's lifelong enthusiasm for the performance and preservation of "authentic" New Orleans jazz was inspired by Louis Armstrong's music.
Ringwald co-organized the inaugural Sacramento Jazz Festival in 1974, with his band headlining, in addition to performing piano in bars seven nights a week. The festival named Ringwald "The Emperor of Jazz" in 2012.
Molly Ringwald noted that the accolade "both moved and humiliated him. "Despite having been a performer for nearly his entire life, he was never comfortable having attention bestowed on him unless he was on stage with a piano."
His ensembles included "Sugar Willie and the Cubes," "The Great Pacific Jazz Band," which he established after moving to Los Angeles in the 1980s, and "The BoonDockers." He presented "Bob Ringwald's Bourbon Street Parade" on KCSN-FM, which featured jazz musicians primarily from his enormous record collection.
"Though he never wanted to be defined by his blindness, he couldn't help but be an advocate for altering people's perceptions of what is possible while living with a disability," Molly Ringwald wrote. "His dignity, humor, character strength, and courage will be remembered and treasured by everyone whose lives he touched."
Robert Ringwald is survived by his wife of 60 years, Adele; a sister, Renée Angus; another daughter, Beth Ringwald Carnes; a son, Kelly Ringwald; two grandsons, two granddaughters, two step-granddaughters, one great-grandson, and one step-great-grandson.
A memorial ceremony is being planned.
The family requests that donations be given to either the Foundation Fighting Blindness or CURE Childhood Cancer in place of flowers.
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