Ralph Kresge Todd Warrenton April 11, 1929 — Aug. 29, 2019

Ralph was born April 11, 1929, in Ithaca, New York, to parents Roger and Frances (Kresge) Todd.

Ralph attended Newfield High School, in Newfield, New York, and graduated in 1947.

In 1948, he enlisted in the Army for six years, and served his country as a sergeant first class tank commander in Straubing, Germany.

He returned to the U.S. to attend Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, and graduated with a bachelor of science degree. He worked in the manufacturing industries throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Ralph was employed by Tektronix until his retirement in 1991. From 1991 to 2012, Ralph was a consultant for the Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME) and the Northwest High Performance Enterprise Consortium (NWHPEC) in Portland, Oregon.

Ralph served as an AME volunteer for over 30 years, and served on numerous committees, boards and conferences, helped launch the AME Western Region and was honored in 2006 with the Mac McCulloch Lifetime Achievement Award.

AME co-founder Doc Hall, in a 2006 Target magazine article commented on Todd: “He was so successful developing programs that other regions began to help set up events. Soon he became AME’s corporate event organizer. During the 1990s, if you went to an AME event, chances were good that Ralph helped organize it.”

In addition to his work with AME, he retired from Tektronix, where he helped to adopt lean manufacturing and design for manufacturing. He also formed the Northwest High Performance Consortium (HPEC) in the Portland, Oregon, area.

According to friend and colleague Phil Roether, “he loved to help others working on their excellence journey, and served as a facilitator helping groups attending the national conference. We honor Ralph’s important contribution to our organization and his dedication as a volunteer.”

Ralph was a member of various organizations, including Astoria United Methodist Church, Astoria Golf and Country Club, Turnaround Trekkers (Volkswalk Club), Lighthouse Jazz Society and served as president of the Surf Pines Association.

Ralph enjoyed the outdoors, especially hunting elk and deer.

Ralph is survived by his wife, Janet Johnson Boyd Todd of Warrenton, Oregon; daughters Karen (David) Falvey and Denise Todd of Charlotte, North Carolina; sons Michael (Holly) Todd of West Palm Beach, Florida, Jason (Tobi) Boyd of Seaside, Oregon, and Jered (Jenni) Boyd of Olympia, Washington.

He is also survived by the Todd grandchildren, Kelsey (Ryan) Kehoe and Drew Falvey; and the Boyd grandchildren, Aston, Briana, Emily, Luke, Andrew, Noah, Grace, Sophia, Lucy, Katherine, Nathan and Dominic.

A celebration of life service was held at Astoria United Methodist Church on Sept 8. Private burial was held on Sept. 5 at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Ralph Todd Music Scholarship Memorial Fund, First Interstate Bank, 300 S. Holladay Drive, Seaside, OR 97138.

Hughes-Ransom Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements.