Nathan Daniel Ridgely

Obituary

Nathan Daniel Ridgely, 53, passed away on Feb. 14, 2025, in Chandler, Ariz. He was born in 1971 to David and Barbara Anne (Dancey) Ridgely in Milwaukee. Nate was well-loved and respected by family and friends as a talented and accomplished storyteller, songwriter, comedian, and musician. Those who knew him will remember him as kind, hard-working, smart, funny, and endlessly generous.

Nate graduated from Cedarburg High School, class of ‘89, where he studied Spanish and played on the soccer team. He attended Carroll College (now Carroll University) in Waukesha. Nate majored in Theatre Arts with an emphasis on stage design and technical theatre. As a member of the Carroll Players, he contributed to many campus productions with technical work that included sound, set, and lighting design, and won Best Sound Design for the 1992-1993 season. Taking those tech skills into the "real world," he worked backstage for the Skylight Music Theater during their build-out in a new space on Broadway in Milwaukee in 1993. He then ventured into sales and customer service, finding success in retail sales and bilingual customer service at local companies, including Cascio Interstate Music.

As a musician and technophile who loved to learn, his schooling continued and focused on computers and software when he moved to Ventura County, CA, in 2002. He attended Moorpark College and Ventura County Community College, earning credits and certificates that advanced his technical knowledge and skills for transitioning to a tech-focused career path. From there, he landed customer service and sales engineer roles at Wire One, Advanced Media Design, and Plus 6 Technology, which took him to Henderson, NV. He moved to the Phoenix area in 2016, where he was a systems engineer for Polycom before joining the Solutions Engineering Team, Enterprise Accounts at Zoom Communications in 2018. There, he worked on accounts for some of the largest brands in the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he scheduled and led weekly family Zoom calls that not only kept the immediate and extended family connected but strengthened relationships to bring them closer than ever.

Nate was incredibly creative in many ways. He spent much of the ‘90s in local bands, solidifying his songwriting, guitar, singing, and performance skills on stages in the Milwaukee area and beyond. He also enjoyed acting; in 2003, he played Rapunzel’s Prince in Camarillo Community Theatre’s Into The Woods.

Performing and writing music were passions he diligently pursued for much of his adult life. He started playing guitar in high school, which led to him joining his first band, Jester, in the early ‘90s. He made bigger waves in the Milwaukee music scene in the mid-‘90s as half of the acoustic duo Lemmings. He then played in the band Sign Language with his good friend, the late Bob Poggenberg, through the turn of the Millennium. Around that time, Nate also played some memorable Spoof Fest shows as Tin Man in Pink Floyd, Billy Corgan in the Smashing Pumpkins, and David Byrne in the Talking Heads. More recently, the Drop Dead Borgias, based in the Phoenix area, kept him writing and playing covers and originals with his best friends, the Southmayds. In addition to the many stringed instruments he could play, Nate chased percussion and took drum lessons during the pandemic. He was also a driving force behind an annual Milwaukee-area Halloween party performance known as FrankenFloyd, spending months using his theatre training to plan and prepare the elaborate production.

He was a consummate host, and while he certainly had a taste for the finer things in life (especially technology, cars, spirits and wine, chocolate, and household products), he loved a simple neighborhood walk and a Culver’s meal with family, too. Friends describe him as clever, creative and generous. He was a supportive, caring brother, a fun uncle, a dutiful, helpful son, and a happy cat dad. Over the years, he generously opened his home multiple times to his sisters Lisa and Jocelyn, who stayed with him during times of transition in their lives. Memories of his sense of humor and the laughter he brought — through original storytelling, comedic impressions, impromptu songs, impeccable accents, and endless movie quotes — will comfort us all for years to come.

Surviving family members include his loving parents, David and Barbara; siblings Deborah (Tony) Paegelow, Lisa Ridgely (Ryan Elliott), and Megan Ridgely (Chris Lilienthal); nieces Miranda (Tim) Evans and Sarah (Max) Somelofske, and nephew Caleb Paegelow; and many aunts, uncles and cousins. He is further survived by dear friends Apryl, John, and Tommy Southmayd; friends from the Milwaukee and Phoenix music scenes; former colleagues and customers; and many more. He was preceded in death by his sisters, Alison Kay and Jocelyn Michelle; his aunt, Carol (Dancey) Luebbe; and his grandparents, William and Esther (Wray) Ridgely and David and Dorothy (Dorrington) Dancey. We know Nate was welcomed to heaven with open arms by Jocelyn, family, friends, and dear pets Pippi, Squiggy, Akiko, Rainforest, and Logan.

Nate’s memory will be honored by family and friends at a private celebration of his life on May 31. Please RSVP below.

Instead of flowers, please donate to the Humane Society, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), or a charity of your choice.

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