R. Phillip Ritter is the son of a father who worked as a cost analyst in the aerospace industry and a mother who taught first grade for nearly three decades. Born in Des Moines, Iowa in January 195...view moreR. Phillip Ritter is the son of a father who worked as a cost analyst in the aerospace industry and a mother who taught first grade for nearly three decades. Born in Des Moines, Iowa in January 1952, his family moved to Southern California before he began the first grade. He attended second grade through high school in Anaheim, and then California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. He graduated with a bachelor of architecture degree in 1975. He completed his thesis year in Denmark, and while there met Kristine (born in Alaska, she was completing her second year of architecture through the University of Idaho) in the balcony of the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen during a performance of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. He moved to Alaska and married Kris a few years later and has lived there ever since. The author and his wife have two sons, Kristian and Ryan.view less