Ridder dedicated her life to fighting for women's access to opportunities in education and athletics, that she did not have as a young lady who grew up before Title IX came into effect.[6][7] Ridder felt that supporting women's athletics was a means to help women succeed in life, and in the business world.[3][5] She volunteered on the boards of non-profit organizations, and multiple committees at the University of Minnesota while being an advocate for women.[5][7]
In 1983, Ridder established the first endowment awarded to a female student-athlete at the University of Minnesota, known as the
Kathleen C. Ridder scholarship for studies in math, medicine, or science.[5][6] The University of Minnesota also awards the "Kathleen C. and Robert B. Ridder Scholarship" annually to a student athlete on the Golden Gophers women's ice hockey team.[6]
Ridder and her husband helped build the first women's-only college ice hockey facility, and which became the Ridder Arena, home to the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey.[5][6] The Ridders gifted $500,000 towards the project which opened in 2002, and remained the sole facility dedicated to college women's ice hockey until the Wisconsin Badgers opened LaBahn Arena in 2010.[9] Robert Ridder died in 2000 before the arena's completion, but Kathleen Ridder attended the opening night and dropped the ceremonial first puck.[6][7]
Publications
Ridder authored a total of seven books and articles, including three autobiographical books of her life:[2][10]
Books
Kathleen Incorporated. (1990). Privately published, St. Paul Minnesota. OCLC610466222[11]
A Woman Ahead of her Time. (1995). Privately published, St. Paul Minnesota. OCLC269439183[12]
Kathleen C. Ridder papers, 1978–1985. Minnesota Historical Society. OCLC313865026[15]
The Women's Institute and how it revived downtown St. Paul: speakers, style shows, and 12,000 shoppers. (1997). Ramsey County history. Vol 32, no. 3. OCLC46369769[16]
A win at Wimbledon in 1959: links, courts, lanes, diamonds: Ramsey County's women athletes and their history of success. (1998). Ramsey County history. Vol 33, no. 3. OCLC46369773[17]
Ridder was inducted into the University of Minnesota M Club Hall of Fame in 1990 as a benefactor, and received the Director's Award in 2004 in recognition of her generosity and service to the Minnesota Golden Gophers sports programs.[6] The American Hockey Coaches Association recognized Ridder and her late husband in 2009 with the Joe Burke Award, for dedication to women's ice hockey.[6][18]
References
^"Family Files Page 250". Genealogical Society of Bergen County. January 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2018.