He was known for being able to talk to kids and adults equally while engage in topics across the board and was able to put that to good use in his profession.
“Mark was the most talented and humble person I’ve ever known,” said friend Jack Joy, who met Ritts 13 years ago at a Lamaze class. “He’d put on a puppet and he’d stand there talking, but the attention was always on the puppet.”
Ritts was well-established in the La Cañada area for performing readings and puppeteering acts at various places, including Paradise Canyon Elementary.
He and Parente performed together at Come Read a Story nights and would alternate performing; sometimes Ritts would do a magic show.
“I was amazed at the following,” Joy said of his well-attended readings. “It was always a delight [to watch him perform]. He would grab the kids’ attention and never let it go.
Ritts was born June 16, 1946 in West Chester, Pa., and raised in Princeton, N.J., the only child to Paul and Mary Ritts.
Ritts, who was also an Emmy Award-winning television host, got his start in show business as a youngster, working in TV and film with his parents, the acclaimed entertainers and creators of The Ritts Puppets.
He graduated from Harvard with a B.A. in English literature and received post-graduate credits at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He was also active in the drama department at Harvard. He worked in New York on documentaries and industrial videos for years, eventually meeting Parente on the set of a video for Exxon. In 1993, he moved to Los Angeles to work and shortly thereafter married Parente.
Ritts had a remarkable impression upon people, Parente said, and that even people who only met him a few times never forgot him.
“It’s a hard loss,” Parente added. “The world doesn’t have many people in it like Mark.”
In addition to Parente, he is survived by sons Dan and James, and daughter Gabriella, who attends LCHS 7/8.
