Francis ‘Dick’ Ritger
Former owner of the Middleborough Inn had Ocean City apartments and was a decorated World War II veteran
Francis “Dick” Ritger, who founded the Middleborough Inn in Essex and was a decorated World War II combat veteran, died Sunday of cancer at the Sen. Bob Hooper House in Forest Hill. He was 89 and a resident of Bowleys Quarters.
Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Joseph Ritger and the former Margaret Bush. He was raised on Collington Avenue and attended St. Katherine of Siena School and a Baltimore vocational-technical school. He became an auto mechanic and worked at dealerships along Belair Road in Fullerton and Overlea.
Mr. Ritger joined the Army during World War II and crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a troop carrier. He told his son, Francis Joseph Ritger of Middle River, that the ship was tossed as they crossed. “He said everybody on that ship was sick,” his son said.
Mr. Ritger, a machinegunner, fought in Germany and was wounded in the leg and midsection in April 1945.
“He was behind enemy lines and one of his buddies saw him get hit. They picked him up in a Jeep, and he spent four months in an English hospital and two more months recuperating in Virginia,” his son said. Mr. Ritger was awarded the Purple Heart.
He returned to Baltimore and the auto repair business. In 1955, he bought the Monumental Inn, an East Baltimore tavern at Monument Street and Luzerne Avenue. He changed its name to Dick and Irene’s Monumental Inn. He served light fare, including crab cakes and hamburgers.
“My father was his own bouncer,” his son said. “He wasn’t big, but he didn’t take anything from an unruly customer.”
A decade later, Mr. Ritger heard of an auction in Essex in which an old shore bar and beer garden between Norman Creek and Middle River was being sold.
“He made a bid, and all of a sudden he owned the place,” his son said.
Mr. Ritger sold the Monumental Inn and enlarged the Essex business. He renamed it the Middleborough Inn after the part of eastern Baltimore County where it was located.
“The place could be hard to find, but the inn was popular,” his son said. “He treated his customers well and he did not overcharge. His customers always came back.”
Mr. Ritger enlarged the place several times. Baltimore Sun food reviewers noted that his menu carried more than 60 entrees and many “came relentlessly stuffed with lumps of backfin crab meat.”
“The place has a certain comfortable romance to it,” a 1988 Sun article said.
A 1974 Sun article said the place seated 600 people and had two bars. On weekends, Mr. Ritger hired an organ player.
He retired in 1987 and sold the business. He then spent his winters in Pompano Beach, Fla.
“My father told mehe seemed to be in the right place at the right time,” his son said. “He heard about property for sale in Ocean City and bought a six-unit building near 138th Street. Then he bought the property in front on the ocean. In 1983, he built a 12-unit condo building and named it Irene by the Sea.”
“He tried golf once but it didn’t last,” his son said. “All he did was work. Even in retirement, he was always fumbling with something.”
A funeral Mass will be offered at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church, 10003 Bird River Road in Middle River, where he was a member.
In addition to his son, survivors include two sisters, Marie Ritger and Ann Lodwick, both of Dundalk; a companion, Claudia Maher of Perry Hall; three grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. His wife, Gertrude Roppelt, died in 2011. He had been married to Irene Miller, who died in 1999. A daughter, Barbara Morrison, died in 2009. His marriage to his first wife, Catherine Dietrich, ended in divorce.