THE REV. ROBERT NICHOLAS RISTAD, JR.
March 25, 1935 – September 16, 2021
Residence: Santa Rosa, California
Robert Nicholas Ristad, Jr., “Nick”, died peacefully, surrounded by family and friends, at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Santa Rosa, California, on September 16, 2021.
He was born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, to Robert Nicholas Ristad, Sr. and Ella Schuette Ristad. When he was seven years old, his parents and younger sister, Paula, traveled by train to the Bay Area of California where his father worked as a salesman for Corning Glass.
He attended Palo Alto High School, and then went back to the Midwest to attend St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where his Norwegian-born grandfather, Ditlef G. Ristad, had been a leader in the Norwegian-American community. He graduated from St. Olaf in 1958. Following college, Nick studied at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California, obtaining a Master of Divinity in 1962 and being ordained in the Lutheran Church in America. During seminary, he did clinical pastoral education for a summer at California’s San Quentin prison, where he discovered his calling to prison ministry. He also trained at Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, Juvenile Diagnostic Center in Sacramento, and Metropolitan State Hospital, Norwalk.
He helped the Salvation Army set up a halfway house in Los Angeles for parolees from the California Department of Corrections and was the pastor at Luther Memorial Lutheran Church in Fresno, California, from 1964-1968. He worked as a program writer for San Hidalgo Mexican-American vocational training program in Oakland, and was assistant to the President and Director of Pastoral Training at San Leandro Memorial Hospital. From 1971-1987, Nick served as Protestant Chaplain and supervisor for Clinical Pastoral Education at California Medical Facility, the prison mental hospital in Vacaville. In 1987, he moved to become the Protestant Chaplain at Napa State Hospital, serving also as Supervisor for the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, retiring in 2014. He was President of the California State Chaplains and on the California State Advisory Committee on Institutional Religion. He served on the Ordination Commission of the Lutheran Church in America. He was a Diplomat in the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, Nick’s passion for justice and his frustration with the inadequate concern for the incarcerated and the mentally ill shown by the government and the church led him in 1980 to found the Robert N. and Ella S. Ristad Foundation for ministry with the marginalized.
The Foundation awarded grants especially to faith-based organizations to help foster beneficial systemic changes in the criminal justice system and to support the formerly incarcerated and the mentally ill. When Nick needed to retire from such activity in about 2000, the Board of the Foundation voted to turn over management of the fund to the American Friends Service Committee.
Nick loved his family deeply, especially esteeming both his parents. He valued generosity as a legacy of his family and instilled this within his niece and nephews through his words and actions. He had a soft spot for all animals, but especially squirrels and scrub jays which he gently groomed to take food from his hand. Plants flourished under his care and he spent many satisfying hours tending to the garden on his deck. Above all, he faithfully loved his wife, Linda, with whom he shared thirty amazing years of companionship, travel, and care.
Nick and Linda lived in Vallejo, California until 2015, when they moved to Spring Lake Village in Santa Rosa, California. He is survived by his wife, the Rev. Dr. Linda Lee Clader of 30 years, a sister, Paula Ristad Foege, a brother, Edwin S. Ristad, a niece, Charlotte Ristad Vrobel, and nephews, Michael Foege, Robert Foege, George Ristad, and Henry Ristad and their families.
A memorial service will be celebrated at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Healdsburg, California,on Thursday, November 4 at 1:00 p.m. The service will be streamed live and the recorded service available on YouTube at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Healdsburg.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to the American Friends Service Committee Ristad Endowment, afsc.org, or 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102.