Retired School of Cinema staff member Roy Charles Ramsing passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday, November 21.
Family and friends remember Ramsing as kind, patient and even-keeled with a lifelong drive to help others and an ever-present playful sense of humor.
He was born on April 30, 1937, in Beloit, Wisconsin, to Karl Tage Ramsing and Coyla Boomershine Ramsing.
While attending Beloit College, Ramsing met Pamella Fletcher. They married in 1960. After college he was drafted into the Army, before the start of the Vietnam War. He served in Germany and then in the Army Reserves until 1966.
In the heyday of the 1960s migration to San Francisco, Ramsing took advantage of the GI bill and boldly moved his family so that he could study photography at the San Francisco Art Institute. There, he joined the Film Department as the technical supervisor. He also taught a class, Sound for Film.
In 1997, Ramsing joined SF State’s staff as cinema equipment supervisor. He retired in 2017.
Ramsing is survived by his wife, Jacalyn White, daughter Carolyn Ramsing Contreras, grandsons Charles and Michael Contreras, nephews Will and Ian Hough, niece Miriam Hough and godson Wiley DeWeese. He was preceded in death by his sisters, Valerie Hough and Nina Ramsing.
No formal memorial service will be held; friends are encouraged to raise a toast to his life. Remembrances in his name may be made to the Roy Ramsing Memorial Cinema Scholarship Fund at SF State or your favorite charity.