Baltimore native Ryan Fidler, a software engineer and developer, died on Thursday, June 22, after an eight-month battle with pancreatic cancer. The Hampden resident was 44.
A 1996 Pikesville High School graduate, Fidler earned a bachelor’s degree in imaging and digital arts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in 2000.
For four years, he worked as a multi-media designer for U.S. Foodservice (now known as U.S. Foods), a distributor of food and related products. From 2004 until May of 2022, Fidler worked as director of product development and chief technology officer for Syndicus NACON, a technical recruiting and staffing company based in Annapolis.
Fidler was also the owner and operator of Bmore Creative Inc., a web designing, development and consulting group. Since May of 2022, he worked as project manager and technical lead manager at McLane Advance Technologies, a small business headquartered in Northern Virginia with a focus on providing services to the Department of Defense, federal government and private sector.
After his diagnosis in October of 2022, Fidler and his family spearheaded efforts to raise funds for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. With the help of the “Ryan’s Warriors” team, the Fidlers raised more than $100,000 for pancreatic cancer research.
“We are here today … because of all of you, each and every single one of you,” Fidler’s wife of seven years, Kristen, said to network supporters at the PanCAN Purple Stride Maryland fundraising event held earlier this year. “Thank you Ryan’s Warriors, those of you that are here, those that are near and those that are joining us from afar. Thank you for your ’Warrior Love.’”
Among the supporters of the Fidlers’ efforts was Ron Snyder, who first became friends with Ryan Fidler in seventh grade at Pikesville Middle School.
“Ryan was the best type of friend,” Snyder said. “He made everyone he associated with feel like he was their best friend. It was a genuine friendship, too. He was the type of friend who, even if it had been months since you had spoken with him, you could pick up like nothing changed.”
Even during Fidler’s illness, Snyder said that he was an inspiration to those around him. “Ryan wanted to make sure those closest to him were OK,” he said. “He wanted to make sure he did everything he could to ensure his wife and son were OK, and to help raise money to ensure others may be cured from this disease one day.”
Fidler is survived by his wife, Kristen Fidler (nee Weiss); his son, Reid O’Donnell Fidler; his parents, Fran and Ron Fidler; his parents-in-laws, Kathleen and John C. Weiss III; his siblings, Lisa Fidler Yarmis and Joel (Sara) Fidler; his sister-in-law, Elizabeth (Mark) Nook; and his nieces and nephews, Jennifer, Benjamin, Sam, Baylin, Kieran and Harper.
Funeral services will be held at Sol Levinson’s Chapel, 8900 Reisterstown Rd. in Pikesville, on Tuesday, June 27, at 2:30 p.m. Interment is private.
Contributions in Fidler’s memory may be sent to Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, 1500 Rosecrans Ave., Suite 200, Manhattan Beach, California 90266, or to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Pl., Memphis, Tennessee 38105.
The family will be in mourning at the home of Gary Cohen, at 8203 Tall Chimney Ct. in Pikesville, on Tuesday after the funeral until 8 p.m., on Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m., and on Thursday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
On the Sol Levinson & Bros. website, Phyllis Bailey, one of Fidler’s customers at the U.S. Army for more than a decade, posted, “He was always on time with answers and solutions to tech problems. I know his smile will be greatly missed by all who knew him.”
Wrote Wilbert Utsey, one of Fidler’s former colleagues, “The five years Ryan and I worked together will forever be memorable. Working together in a small office, we got to know each other personally and professionally. I’m a decade Ryan’s elder, but I believe I learned more from him than he did from me. Ryan embodied a bright spiritual soul! My sincere condolences to the Fidler family.”
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