Richie, Donald, May 18, 1981

Donald Ritchie (April 17, 1924 - February 19, 2013) was an author, composer, film historian, film critic, and filmmaker. He was born in Lima, Ohio. Ritchie served in World War II and then decided to volunteer to go abroad as an Army civilian employee. He arrived in Japan in 1946 and was assigned to the Reparation Council Committee, where he worked as a typist. In his free time, Ritchie was a writer, which landed him a job as a film critic for the newspaper, Stars and Stripes, where he mainly reviewed American films for G.I.'s He remained at this job until 1949. Ritchie went on to get his BS in English from Columbia University in 1953 before deciding to return to Japan. Once in Japan, he got a job as a film critic with "The Japan Times." He would go on to author numerous books, direct experimental films, and serve as the Curator of Film at the New York Museum of Modern Art from 1969 to 1972. After returning to Japan in 1953, Donald Ritchie went on to live in Japan for most of his life before passing away in Tokyo at the age of 88.