Ralph Hewitt Widdicomb was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1873, the same year The Widdicomb Furniture Company was incorporated. The son of Henry E. Widdicomb, he attended Grand Rapids public schools and went to work in 1898 for his uncle’s company as a furniture designer. After designing period revival pieces, he won first prize at the 1900 Paris Exposition for an American Empire bedroom suite. He turned in the early 1930’s to designing in the Modern manner. A cabinet he designed in the Modern style is in The Wolfsonian-FIU Museum, Miami Beach, Florida.
Ralph Widdicomb died in 1959.