Former ABQ publishing executive dies at 95
George Ramczyk was World War II veteran, serving in the U.S. Navy
George L. Ramczyk is remembered by his family as among those of the World War II generation who did the right thing because it was simply the right thing to do.
Ramczyk died Nov. 8. He was 95 years old.
Ramczyk was born in Winona, Minn., and answered the call to serve his country during World War II. Enlisting in the U.S. Navy, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Chester as a gunner in the Pacific theater and also served as an aviation radioman.
After the war, he married the former Dorothy Kohner in 1946 and attended the University of Minnesota on the G.I. Bill, getting a degree in journalism.
Seeking a warmer climate, the couple moved to New Mexico, where Ramczyk worked as advertising manager for the Belen News Bulletin starting in 1948. He later took a job with the Albuquerque Publishing Co., selling ads for the Albuquerque Journal and the Albuquerque Tribune. He eventually became the national advertising manager, a position he held until his retirement nearly 34 years later, in 1985.
“He was everyman,” said daughter Mary Higgins. “He was one of those guys who enlisted in the Navy, performed his duty, saw the world, and then went home and did what you’re supposed to do. He was a good father and a good husband.”
He and his wife were married for 56 years when she died in 2002. The couple had eight children, eight grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren.
“I would call him an eternal optimist,” Higgins said. “He was the sole support of a family of 10. That’s what I call optimistic. He also believed that the cost of every item or service was negotiable. I remember at one point we were eating on dinner plates that had the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Heaven only knows what kind of a negotiation resulted in those.”
A stroke in 2015 left Ramczyk unable to walk, but the eternal optimist “insisted on physical therapy because he said he would walk and drive again,” Higgins said.
Despite that, he continued to enjoy going to the casinos, “where he’d be wheeled in, have lunch and play the slot machines. Up until his last hospitalization three or four weeks ago, he was still getting out to the casinos.”
In retirement, Ramczyk and his wife also enjoyed going to the racetrack, where Dorothy Ramczyk got to be quite good at analyzing the Daily Racing Forum and picking horses and jockeys, Higgins said.
“It was a new path for a woman who played piano, raised eight children and was a staunch Catholic,” she said.
Ramczyk, a lifelong Democrat, was adamant about voting in the midterm election.
“He and I worked on his absentee ballot and he wanted to make sure he voted,” Higgins said. “His mental faculties were fine.”
A Mass of the Resurrection will be held at 11:30 a.m., Friday at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, 12500 Carmel NE, followed by interment at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 7999 Wyoming NE. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Good Shepherd Center of Albuquerque.