Homer P. Ritter, for many years an officer of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and a member of the Mississippi River Commission, died in Washington, D.C., April 21, 1919.

He was returning from a meeting of the Mississippi River Commission at Memphis and was taken ill on the train. On his arrival at Washington, on Saturday morning, he was taken to the Emergency Hospital, and died there.

Mr. Ritter was born in Cleveland, Ohio, March 4, 1855. He attended the high school in Cleveland from 1869 to 1873 and Columbia College School of Mines from 1878 to 1880. He was afterwards employed for several years on railway surveys.

He entered the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1885, was appointed an assistant in 1895, and continued in the service until the time of his death. Mr. Ritter had been employed on field work in all parts of the United States and in Alaska, and his last duty was in charge of the field station of the Coast and Geodetic Survey at Boston, Massachusetts.

He was nominated to succeed Henry L. Marindin as a member of the Mississippi River Commission, and his appointment was confirmed by the Senate April 14, 1904, at which time he was on duty in Alaska.

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C&GS Bulletin 4/1919