List of Famous people with last name Ridgway

Gary Leon Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, is an American serial killer. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, bringing the total number of convictions to 49, making him the second most prolific serial killer in United States history according to confirmed murders. He killed many teenage girls and women in the state of Washington during the 1980s and 1990s.

David Ridgway is a former placekicker for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. His CFL career began in 1981 when he was drafted by the Montreal Alouettes. He did not make the squad that year and returned to the University of Toledo to complete his degree in Marketing. Prior to the 1982 CFL season he signed as a free-agent with the Roughriders and began an impressive 14-year career with the club.

Robert Ridgway was an American ornithologist specializing in systematics. He was appointed in 1880 by Spencer Fullerton Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to be the first full-time curator of birds at the United States National Museum, a title he held until his death. In 1883, he helped found the American Ornithologists' Union, where he served as officer and journal editor. Ridgway was an outstanding descriptive taxonomist, capping his life work with The Birds of North and Middle America. In his lifetime, he was unmatched in the number of North American bird species that he described for science. As technical illustrator, Ridgway used his own paintings and outline drawings to complement his writing. He also published two books that systematized color names for describing birds, A Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists (1886) and Color Standards and Color Nomenclature (1912). Ornithologists all over the world continue to cite Ridgway's color studies and books.

John Livzey Ridgway was an American scientific illustrator and brother of ornithologist Robert Ridgway. Ridgway collaborated with his brother on ornithological illustration and published his own works. Ridgway was born in Mount Carmel, Illinois to David and Henrietta Reed Ridgway, and attended public schools in Illinois. Robert Ridgway brought him to work as a copyist and draftsman for the United States National Museum in the 1880s. Ridgway was a draftsman for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from 1884–1918, and its chief illustrator from 1918–1920. He also worked for the Carnegie Institution of Washington. In 1920 he moved to California, where he worked for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Institute of Technology, working for the latter institution up until his death.

General Matthew Bunker Ridgway was a senior officer in the United States Army, who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1952–1953) and the 19th Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1953–1955). He fought with distinction during World War II, where he was the Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division, leading it in action in Sicily, Italy and Normandy, before taking command of the newly formed XVIII Airborne Corps in August 1944. He held the latter post until the end of the war, commanding the corps in the Battle of the Bulge, Operation Varsity and the Western Allied invasion of Germany.