George Richard Ryskamp

6 May 1950 - 1 July 2022

Surrounded in love by his wife and four children, George Richard Ryskamp died peacefully on

1 July 2022 at Utah Valley Medical Center in Provo, Utah.

George was born on 6 May 1950 in Detroit, Michigan, to Rix and Clarice Ryskamp. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to the suburban town of Oak Park, where George's two sisters and brother were later born.

George developed woodworking skills as a youth, watching—and later helping—his father expand their home. The tutelage continued when he was old enough to participate with his father, uncle, and cousins in the family wallpaper and painting business. George's ancestors had brought the trade from the Netherlands four generations earlier when they immigrated to the United States and settled in Michigan.

From childhood, George was a voracious reader and excellent student. As a 1968 Ferndale High School graduate, he received a McKay Presidential Scholarship to Brigham Young University. George relished his undergraduate years at BYU, a formative time as he immersed himself in academics, deepened his understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and made lifelong friends. He often talked about memories of the honors section of the library, including a time he sneaked a pizza into the library in his briefcase. Throughout his time at BYU, George used the skills he learned in the family business, hanging wallpaper as a sub-contractor to earn extra income.

After completing his first year at BYU, George served from 1969 to 1971 in the Buenos Aires, Argentina, South Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That, too, became a foundational experience as he taught the gospel in a language, and to a people, he quickly grew to love. Returning to BYU, George pursued a dual history and Spanish major. A highlight of this time was his two semester-abroad trips to Spain, where he first worked with parish and archival records.

On 3 April 1975, George was set up on a blind date with Peggy Marie Hill. From that day forward, Peggy became the center of George's life and his constant companion. After a whirlwind courtship the couple married in the Salt Lake Temple on 25 June that year. In the fall, George joined the second class of the J. Reuben Clark Law School. They welcomed their first child, a daughter, the following year.

George's deep passion for family history began at the age of twelve, when he sat in on a series of adult genealogy classes at church. This passion continued as he researched on his own as a young teenager during family trips to Salt Lake City, and later wrote his senior honors thesis while exploring Spanish archives. In 1976, George was approached by BYU to assist a six-month study-abroad program in Spain. He suggested to Peggy—then expecting their second child— that he take an entire year off from law school and spend the additional six months travelling and researching. He wanted to gather information for a book he hoped to write on Spanish family history, he explained, to "Get genealogy out of my system so I can focus on the law." Although that sentiment ultimately failed, George did gather his desired material. Their second child, a son, was born while they lived in Madrid.

Following his law school graduation in 1979, George took a position as an attorney in Riverside, California. Over time, he developed a specialty in probate, estate planning, and city law, and eventually partnered in setting up his own firm. Beyond the office, George used his carpentry skills to turn an attic into an upstairs living area in his first home, expanding its size for the couple's two additional sons. He later renovated and moved into his second house, built in 1910 and located in the historic section of town. He also oversaw the renovation of a 1905 home his firm bought and turned into an office. George didn't limit his enthusiasm for large-scale projects to remodeling. He constructed complicated Halloween costumes, built a fort in the backyard, and executed elaborate law-firm family Christmas parties, with visits from Santa. He loved hosting barbeque pool parties at the swimming pool behind his law office. George served in multiple church callings, including years leading the local Spanish-speaking congregation. In 1984 he finished and self-published his promised book, Tracing Your Hispanic Heritage, at the time the definitive tome about genealogy in Spain.

In 1993, following the Spirit and his passion, George left behind his law career and California, and moved his family to Utah to take a position at BYU teaching Family History. His areas of specialty were Southern Europe and the law. During his twenty-eight-year tenure, George worked tirelessly to build BYU's Family History program. He served ten years as its Program Director. As Director of the Center for Family History and Genealogy, he spearheaded the Immigrant Ancestors Project website, which to date has had close to two million visits from users in ten different countries. He had the vision to expand the existing Script.byu,edu website, supervising student content for all the Romance languages as well as Latin and Dutch. He took particular pleasure working with students on the Spanish Village Project. George never tired of teaching and mentoring students. He viewed his onsite research trips with student interns to Spain, France, and Italy as one of his career highlights, an opportunity to give students the same hands-on practical experience that had affected him. He lectured on the topics of the law as well as Spanish-language research, traveling throughout the United States and Latin America, always with the goal of helping researchers. His extensive writings include Finding Your Hispanic Roots and most recently, Mastering Spanish Handwriting and Documents 1520–1820.

While his career centered on helping others find success in tracing their families, the family George's life centered on was his own. He welcomed his children's spouses as they married, and loved his role as grandpa to the "R Team 19"—his nineteen grandchildren whose last names all begin with the letter R. George designed and built their two favorite places to play—a large Noah's ark, complete with two-of-a kind stuffed animals, and a treehouse.

After chairing an international Hispanic genealogy conference in Salt Lake City in 2013, George suddenly became ill with acute pancreatitis. He spent thirteen consecutive months in hospitals and care centers before returning home in an electric wheelchair. With a combined determination and Dutch stubbornness, he managed to return to teaching the following year, despite continuing health problems. Although George never regained full ability to walk without a cane or other assistance, his heroic efforts most people never knew allowed him to continue playing as active a role as he could with his family, friends, colleagues, and students. His passing occurred on the first day of his retirement.

George is survived by his wife Peggy, and four children: Erin Ringger and husband Ben; Rix and wife Jenny; Jonathan and wife Liz; Jordan and wife Kate; nineteen grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and siblings Becky Shiflett, April Kay Nelson, and Barry Ryskamp.

With his deep love of genealogical records, George is certainly now smiling, content that his obituary has officially been published and that it includes information about his family relationships that may prove useful to others in their genealogical pursuits.

Funeral services will be held Friday, 8 July 2022 at 11:00 at the Latter-day Saint Chapel at 1050 E. 100 N. in Lindon, Utah. Prior to the services, a viewing will be held from 9:30 until 10:30 am. Condolences may be expressed to the family online at www.walkersanderson.com. To watch the live stream just go to www.walkersanderson.com and click view live webcast for George. For those that cannot watch it live it will be available on his obituary page shortly after.