Albertus Magnus College Mourns the Loss of Albert F. Ridinger
Former Board of Trustee Member Passionate About Education
Albert F. Ridinger, former Board of Trustee
New Haven, Conn, March 25, 2024 – The Albertus Magnus College Community mourns the loss of Albert F. Ridinger, a former Board of Trustee member, who passed away March 12. He was 98.
Ridinger was a dedicated Trustee who served on the Executive and Finance Committees for 22 years - providing vision and wisdom in promoting the mission of Albertus. In addition, in 1999, he was the Trustee representative as the College prepared for its institutional reaccreditation process with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) - now known as the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).
Born in New Haven in 1926, the only child of Mary (Fraher) and Albert Ridinger, Albert developed a strong work ethic by driving a delivery truck for the family’s grocery store. After graduating from St. Mary’s High school in 1944, Ridinger enlisted in the US Navy and served aboard the destroyer, the USS Walker. After the war, he graduated from Yale University and started his own insurance agency - which later merged to form Insurance Management, Inc., where he worked for the remainder of his career.
Throughout his life, Ridinger committed himself to numerous professional boards and charitable organizations, including Albertus Magnus College Board of Trustees from 1981-2006; the Evergreen Cemetery Board as President Emeritus. Notably, he was president of the "Big I" - the Independent Insurance Agents of America; Chairman of the Woodbridge Board of Education when Beecher School South was built; and a building committee member for the Woodbridge Town Library. An avid golfer, he was also Past President of the New Haven Country Club, Quinnipiac Club, and the Woodbridge Club.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held on March 25 at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Woodbridge.
About Albertus Magnus College
Founded in 1925, Albertus is a coeducational Catholic College in the Dominican tradition. Albertus' values- and liberal arts-based education is recognized by external rankings such as US News & World Report, Money, and The New York Times, and has been named a Top 10 Military Friendly School. For ten consecutive years, at least 95% of Albertus graduates have attained employment or gone on to graduate studies within six months of completing their degrees. The College has an enrollment of approximately 1,300 students across its traditional undergraduate, accelerated adult undergraduate, and graduate program levels. Proud to enroll a student body where nearly half of its undergraduate students receive Federal Pell Grants and are first-generation college goers, Albertus is known for its innovative curricular offerings, recently launching new Bachelor's degree programs in Nursing, including BSN and Connecticut's first LPN-to-BSN; General Health Sciences; Interdisciplinary Studies; and Public Health.
Among its graduate offerings is the State of Connecticut's only Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling program, and it is just one of three schools to offer a Master of Science in Human Services. In 2025-26, Albertus is celebrating its historic 100th Anniversary and completing implementation of the Albertus 2025: Lighting the Way to a Second Century strategic plan, with a bold vision to "be a destination liberal arts-based college, distinguished in its interdisciplinary and experiential approach to education, rooted in Dominican values, that prepares students for lifelong civic engagement and success." To learn more, please visit albertus.edu.