Bill Ridgeway, professor emerita of life sciences at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, died last month in a hospital in Urbana, Illinois. He was 88 years old.
A native of Columbia, Missouri, Dr. Ridgeway served in the U.S. Army during World War II and then graduated from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. He held a master’s degree from Wichita State University and a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Missouri.
When Dr. Ridgeway joined the faculty at Eastern Illinois University in 1966, he was one of very few African Americans on the faculty. He taught at Eastern Illinois University for many years. retiring in the 1980s.
