Charles C. Ritz (August 1, 1891 – July 11, 1976) was a French hotelier and

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diff ...

specialist. Like his father César Ritz, he was the owner and manager of

Hôtel Ritz Paris The Ritz Paris is a hotel in central Paris, overlooking the Place Vendôme in the city's 1st arrondissement. A member of the Leading Hotels of the World marketing group, the Ritz Paris is ranked among the most luxurious hotels in the world. ...

Biography

Charles Ritz was the first of two sons born to Swiss hotelier César Ritz (born 1850) and Marie-Louise Beck (born 1867), whose family also owned and ran a hotel in

Menton Menton (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Me ...

. He did not know his itinerant father well, and César died in 1918 when Charles was 27 years old. Charles Ritz emigrated to the United States in 1916 where he became a soldier in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...

. When

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

ended, Ritz returned to the US, and soon spent considerable time mastering the art of fly-fishing in the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. He married Elisabeth Pierce. Ritz returned to France in the 1930s. His experience with

made him one of the foremost specialists on the subject.

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

called him, "One of the finest fly fisherman I know". Ritz wrote a book, ''A Fly Fisher's Life'', which has been read by anglers around the world. It has been regarded as one of the landmarks of fly fishing literature. He invented the parabolic fly-rod, a term coined by Everett Garrison, a famous bamboo fly rod maker. Fly rods of this type were commercially produced by

Paul H. Young Paul Holden Young (b. Arkansas, 1890 – d. Michigan, April 28, 1960) was a master bamboo fly rod maker, fly tyer and fly fishing innovator. The work of Paul Young is greatly admired by anglers and collectors today. Early life Paul Young w ...

Abu Garcia ABU Garcia, originally AB Urfabriken (Swedish: "Watch Factory Ltd."), then ABU Svängsta, is a fishing reel and equipment manufacturing company founded in Svängsta, Sweden, and is now owned by Pure Fishing conglomerate of the United States. ...

, Pezon et Michel, and Jim Payne among others. He was a publicist for the high speed - high line style of fly casting (HSHL). He founded the "Fario Club", which was the most select fishing club in the world during the later part of the twentieth century. Charles Ritz spent several years assisting his mother managing the Ritz Hotel, and assumed presidency of the empire in 1953, when his mother Marie-Louise retired. Marie-Louise returned to her husband's village in Switzerland, Niederwald, during the summer and set up the Ritz Foundation specifically for Niederwald's youth. The foundation pays for scholarships and apprenticeship programs. Marie-Louis passed away in 1961. He attempted to introduce his progressive ideas when he opened ''le bar Vendôme'' and the ''l'Espadon'' restaurant but found himself hampered by the board of directors. Ritz remarried in 1971 and retired from the hotel presidency in 1976, three months before his death. He is buried in

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...

alongside his first wife.

References

*''A fly fisher's life'', Charles C. Ritz - Crown Publishers - Rev. and enl. ed edition (1973) generally agreed to be one of the best books on fly fishing skills ever written. *''Ritz, une histoire plus belle que la légende'' - Claude Roulet - Editions Quai Voltaire (1998) *César Ritz, ''Paris: Hôtel Ritz'' (1938) - a biography of César Ritz written by his wife, Marie-Louise Beck {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritz, Charles Swiss non-fiction writers Swiss male writers Angling writers 1976 deaths 1891 births Swiss hoteliers Fly rod makers Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery French hoteliers 20th-century non-fiction writers Male non-fiction writers

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...