Barbara Jane Ritzmann

University Professor Barbara Jane Ritzmann, 87, who opened a fiber arts studio in Kensington in 1967, taught fiber arts at the University of Maryland, and founded Fiber Inc. studio in the Torpedo Factory Art Complex in Alexandria, Virginia; died at Riderwood Village in Silver Spring, Maryland on June 19, 2012. Barbara was born in Cleveland, Ohio on September 20, 1924. She graduated as valedictorian of Stoneboro High School in Mercer County Pennsylvania in1942, and enrolled in The Pennsylvania State College. She received a B.A in Fine Arts in 1945 and lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Hammond, Indiana; and Beaver, Pennsylvania. She moved to Kensington, Maryland in 1957 and raised her three children. During this time she lived in Deep River, Ontario, for two years where her husband was temporarily posted. Upon returning from Canada, she enrolled in the graduate school of George Washington University receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1967. Shortly thereafter, she opened a fiber arts studio on the second floor of McKeever's Ice Cream Palace in historic old Kensington, and taught fiber arts in the Department of Housing and Applied Design of the University of Maryland. She retired in 1977 and founded Fiber Inc., a fiber arts studio and gallery in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia. She maintained her studio in Kensington until 1996. Barbara was the beloved wife of Robert W. Ritzmann. She is survived by her husband; three children, John Lee Ritzmann of Alexandria, Virginia, Laurence James Ritzmann of Silver Spring, Maryland and Jean Cathleen Helms of Alexandria, Virginia; six grandchildren, three great grandchildren and two step great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Polycystic Kidney Research Foundation, 8330 Ward Parkway, Suite 510, Kansas City, MO. 64114-2000 or Montgomery Hospice Casey House, 6001 Muncaster Mill Road, Rockville, MD 20855.