“Being in SILICON VALLEY is like being in FLORENCE during the RENAISSANCE,” says Ritchie. April/May 2016 59 ERIN LUBIN been important. I love being at the corner of learning and society, because I believe the truth will set you free. So I’m not afraid of learning that seems to be challenging to faith,” he explains, adding that he has no problem with evolution. “Really great scientists are full of wonder about the Universe,” he says, “and there’s so much we can’t explain.” Has it been hard to adjust to life in California? No, says Ritchie, who seems pretty excited to be here, especially in Silicon Valley. “To me, being in Silicon Valley is like being in Florence during the Renaissance,” he explains. “There’s this palpable sense of optimism.” He’s impressed with the financial resources and abundant creativity. “I really do believe Silicon Valley is the hope of this country, and at least in spirit, of the whole world as well. I enjoy being in the thick of all that.” n Ritchie would invite a small group of friends to an after-work gathering called the “Festival of the Malts” with beer and discussion on articles he asked them to read, according to Wilson. Ritchie also collected mugs to give away after gatherings at his house. “He’d put out several mugs and say ‘the mug chooses you,’ (like a sorting hat). Sometimes, he’d pick out a mug for each person, and recount some memory it represented about that person,” Wilson recalls. Both Chauvin and Wilson say Ritchie’s Christian values shape who he is. “He’s not a Bible-thumping, proselytizing, ‘You’re going to burn in hell’ kind of person,” says Chauvin. “He’s very spiritual, and interested in a lot of different religions. “He would always remind us to treat all guests with dignity at the museum, that you never knew if someone coming in was hungry, or with other problems.” “He’s not a real gushy, emotional, touchy-feely sort of guy,” adds Wilson, “but he’s the kind of guy who gets to know you and understand you. He truly cares.” Chauvin shed plenty of tears, she says, on Ritchie’s departure from McWane. “It was a great loss to the city of Birmingham to lose both him and his wife.” CREATING HOPE IN THE WE ST When Ritchie was tapped in 2011 to head The Tech, the stars seemed to align perfectly. At the same time his wife, Christine, a physician, was offered a position as endowed chair in the geriatrics division at University of California, San Francisco. Ritchie remains close to family and friends in the Southeast part of the country. He and Christine (to whom he’s been married 31 years) have a cabin in North Carolina that they visit a couple of times a year. They have two children, Ivy, 23, in Tennessee, and Ramsey, 20, a student at Davidson, Ritchie’s alma mater, in North Carolina. But Tim and Christine have also made themselves at home in the Bay Area. Now living in San Francisco, they spend much of their free time running (both have done marathons) or hiking, enjoying the natural beauty in places like Fort Funston beach. They also do yoga, which Ritchie says he likes but doesn’t do well. “I’m terrible at it!” he says. “But I love it, especially at the end, when I’ve worked really hard, and I just lie down on the mat for a long time.” They also cook together, read a lot, and are involved in their church. Ritchie, a Presbyterian, agrees that his faith has played a central role in his life decisions. “I would say the church, and the whole life of learning has A dancer jumps in the Body Metrics exhibit at the first Creative Collisions event “Ballet + Wearables + You.”
South Bay Accent - Apr/May 2016
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