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Dear Reader, I place this here so you can read about and remember Bob Rittman a dedicated fancier who did much to further the keeping and breeding of Bengalese in the USA.......
The Following Article was published in the American N.F.S.S Journal for October/November 2002
Bob Rittmann.. by Jim Warburton, London, England. August 2002
The Internet has opened up the international world of aviculture extremely rapidly in the last few years, bird-keepers can now learn with ease what species are kept and bred by fellow fanciers in almost every part of the globe, information and advice on every aspect of bird-keeping is available on a vast amount of personal web-sites from the USA to the UK and beyond, Internet chat groups abound dealing with every species of bird that we keep, breed or exhibit.
It was through the Internet that I was contacted initially, via my web-site, by Bob Rittmann, a fancier from the USA, New Jersey, Weehawken to be precise, and a fellow Society Finch enthusiast, although that's not quite the word to describe Bob's passion for what he called Society Finches and we in the UK call the Bengalese Finch.
Bob began with a few general questions, perhaps testing the water to see if I actually knew anything, and then the questions came thick and fast once, twice a day e-mails arrived and answers were despatched.
My credentials were accepted and soon I began to learn more about what Bob described as his "Mission", the objective of which was to upgrade the status of the Society Finch in the USA, and to foster and promote interest in their keeping, breeding and exhibition, an aim I understood having myself been pursuing this same goal in the UK............
An import of Japanse Meeuwen (Dutch Society Finches) had been made into the USA by Bob
and he believed this to be the first serious import of these birds into the USA, he told me that sometime in the past birds of this type had arrived there, but he believed more by accident than design, and now were lost having been introduced into the American type birds of the time, Bob was certain he now had in these radically different looking and striking "Euro Societies" the perfect birds to begin to fulfil the objectives of his mission.
Bob coined the phrase "Euro Societies" he said, to distinguish them from American Societies, and he set about breeding and promoting them to his fellow fanciers in the USA.
Our first meeting was at the Dutch National Bird Show, Vogel '99 in Apeldorne, Holland in January 1999, for me it was a day trip almost, drive overnight to the show, spend a day there and drive back, Bob was there for a week, we had little time to chat, my time was limited, I needed to use most of it to view the exhibits and so we chatted as we walked around, Bob and I found we had much in common in most aspects of not only bird-keeping but of life and we became firm friends that day.
Our contact grew over the Internet, I mentioned to my wife that Bob lived almost in New York just through the Lincoln Tunnel, she thought, shopping, and a chance to get me to spend money on something that didn't sing and posses feathers.
So soon plans were made to spend a week in New York combined with a visit to Bob, and then the rest of the time in Boston with a visit to another society enthusiast Michael Marcotrigiano, this was the first of 4 trips I made to visit Bob and his Mum, and I could relate many amusing stories of interest that came from these visits, most nothing to do with the birds.......
In 2000 Bob came to stay with me, we spent a week in Holland visiting Vogels 2000 and the leading fanciers in Holland and Belgium were Bob obtained more Japanse Meeuwen these came home to do their quarantine with me in the UK before being despatched to Canada en route to the USA and Bob's bird-room, also sent were birds obtained from leading UK fanciers plus a few from myself, mainly Colour mutation Silverbills, that were not allowed into the USA and so remained in Canada.
His health problems never stopped him attempting any project to do with his Euro Societies, he travelled to shows both in the USA & Europe, visiting both myself and fanciers in Europe regularly, where his enthusiasm for the Society Finch gained him many friends among his fellow bird-keepers.........
I was awoken in the early hours of the morning of Thursday 4th June 2002 by my telephone ringing it bought to me the sad news of Bob Rittmanns passing, I had lost a good friend and aviculture had lost a dedicated fancier from it's ranks.
In the short time I knew Bob he became part of my family, he will be greatly missed by us all, he was a Gentleman in every sense of the word.......
His "Euro Societies" have been distributed to enthusiastic fanciers in the USA and hopefully as time goes by they will begin to spread across the country, inspiring novice and experienced bird-keepers alike to take up the challenge and continue to fulfil Bobs mission objectives ...........
Follow this link for Bobs Gallery page from his website..................BOBS GALLERY
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