Bob Ringwald, jazz ambassador's father dies at 80

The actor and musician Molly Ringwald announce saddening news of her father's demise. Robert Ringwald, the pianist who played and promoted jazz in California for more than half a century has died. 

The 80-year-old, Ringwald who is known to friends and fans as Bob, died on August 3. His daughter Molly Ringwald wrote in an obituary Saturday for the Sacramento Bee. No cause was given for the death of the famous personality. Born in Roseville, California with vision problems, Ringwald went blind at an early age began taking piano lessons at 5, and started his first band at 13. On such mourning situation, her daughter wrote “Four years later, at the age of 17, he was able to grow enough of a beard to be able to pass for an adult to play in nightclubs as a professional musician, an occupation he held for the next six decades." At first, drawn to modern jazz, the music of Louis Armstrong instilled in Ringwald a lifelong passion for the performance and preservation of traditional New Orleans jazz.

Ringwald started playing piano at clubs seven nights a week by the 1970s. He even co-organized the first Sacramento Jazz Festival in 1974. His band headlined the event, which became an annual city tradition. Later, in 2012, Ringwald was honored by the festival as “The Emperor of Jazz." Ringwald was also great at ham radio and the Los Angeles Dodgers, for whom he once served as a guest announcer, reading the line-up in Braille. 

Talking about his family, besides his daughter Molly, Robert Ringwald is survived by Adele, his wife of 60 years; 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. 

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