Bob Ringwald, Musician and Father of Molly Ringwald, Dead at 80

Robert Ringwald, jazz musician and father of actress Molly Ringwald, has died. He was 80.

His daughter announced his death in an obituary published Saturday in The Sacramento Bee. Ringwald, who was known to friends and family as Bob, died Aug. 3.

Ringwald was born in Roseville, California in 1940, and was diagnosed as legally blind in infancy. He began playing piano at an early age, taking his very first lessons when he was 5 years old and forming his first band at 13.

By the time he was 17, Ringwald's full beard helped him pass as an adult and his career as a professional musician took off. By the 1970s, he was working and performing in jazz clubs seven nights a week and had welcomed a family of five with wife Adele Frembd.

Ringwald went on to found the Fulton Street Jazz band, which performed at the first Sacramento Jazz Festival in 1974. The festival, which he helped organize, would be held annually on Memorial Day for the next 44 years.

In 2012, the musician was crowned the festival's "Emperor of Jazz," an honor "which both touched and embarrassed him," Molly wrote in his obituary.

"Despite having been a performer for nearly his entire life, he was never comfortable having attention bestowed on him unless he was on stage with a piano," the Sixteen Candles star said. "Nevertheless, Bob drew attention wherever he went. His natural charisma, authenticity and sense of humor made people fall in love with him and want to be around him."

Ringwald also worked as a radio host for KCSN-FM, presenting "Bob Ringwald's Bourbon Street Parade," and was a licensed ham radio operator who communicated with people around the globe using Morse code. Molly also remembered her father as a dedicated Dodgers fan and a "mischievous" jokester.

"Though he never wanted to be defined by his blindness, he couldn't help being an ambassador for changing the perception of what is possible to do while living with a disability," she wrote. "His dignity, humor, strength of character and courage will always be remembered and cherished by everyone whose lives were touched by his."

Ringwald is survived but his wife Adele, his sister, Renée Angus; daughter Beth Ringwald Carnes; son Kelly Ringwald; and daughter Molly Ringwald; as well as two grandsons; two granddaughters; two step-granddaughters; one great-grandson; and one step-great-grandson.