Herman Ridder

Herman Ridder
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Herman Ridder (1851 – November 1, 1915) was an American newspaper publisher and editor.

Biography

Ridder was born in New York City, of German Catholic parents. He had little education, and was an insurance salesman.

In 1878 he established the Katholisches Volksblatt, and married Mary C. Amend in 1880. He founded the Catholic News in 1886, later continued by his brother Henry Ridder. In 1890 he became trustee and manager, and in 1907 president of the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, then the largest and most influential daily paper printed in the German language in the United States.

During the visit of Prince Henry of Prussia in February 1903, Ridder arranged a dinner in Henry's honor. In 1908 he was treasurer of the Democratic National Committee. He was an official of several important financial institutions.

Ridder came into conflict with the Federal authorities following the outbreak of World War I for an alleged pro-German campaign that he was charged with having carried on in his newspapers. He died insolvent, having lost his means with the failure of the International Typesetting Machine Company at the start of World War I. Friends and supporters of Ridder assumed the debts of his publishing enterprise, and the Staats-Zeitung continued under the joint management of his sons, Bernard H. Ridder and Victor F. Ridder.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 

External links

• Testimonials of appreciation to Herman Ridder, acting president and Henry W. Sackett, secretary of the Hudson-Fulton celebration commission, March, 1910 Publisher: The De Vinne press, New York, 1910
• Hermann Ridder Junior High School in New York Bronx
• HISTORY OF A NEW YORK CITY INSTITUTION - New Yorker Staats-Zeitung