Ryan Rodd was introduced to Fishers Island as a young boy by his parents who owned a house on Fishers Island’s West End for seventeen years. His parents later sold the house, and once he graduated college, he started coming back to the island.
Ryan started working summers on Fishers Island in 2011 and began living on the island full time around 2013. He worked at the Fishers Island Club as a lifeguard for Pat for two summers; transitioning from the beach to the greens and worked on the grounds for Donny Beck for three additional years. He also worked at Waste Management with Annette Tourangeau and was a caretaker for Gus Kinsolving.
Ryan was an active member of the Fishers Island Fire Department. He was very involved with the softball league, both playing and umpiring. He built the scoreboard that was used at the ball field for many years.
On Monday, July 28, 2025 a new ball field scoreboard was dedicated in Ryan’s memory and love of this Island field. He could be found there often testing bats he had made and just hitting balls. The scoreboard is a gift to IPP and Fishers Island from his loving family.
He remained engaged in island civic life. He played in the island softball league, helped out at the school library, supported The Henry L. Ferguson Museum and occasionally dished out pizzas at the community center. And, “if the Turkey Trot still has an annual Best Costume prize, you have Ryan to thank for that — he ran in his shorts, bathrobe and shower cap one year!”
Ryan was the long-time commissioner (15 years) of a fantasy baseball league that included many Islanders, other FI Club employees, as well as childhood friends, and college teammates from his days on the Cross Country Team at UNC Greensboro. He was proud that the league’s sixteen teams had members from ten different states.
His love for baseball led to baseball bat making and he became an expert at it!
Ryan had fond memories of going to Isabella Beach and Chocomount Beach as a child. Ryan would get excited any time he boarded the Munnatawket Ferry for a weekend on the island. In fact, decades later he named his handmade baseball bat company the Munnatawket Lumber Co.
2015: “Freshly finished, with over a year’s worth of work put into it, here’s a short film depicting the process of how I make baseball bats as part of my small baseball bat making business, the Munnatawket Lumber Company. When I talk with customers about the methodology of turning a bat I feel like they have a hard time conceptualizing the process of how it’s done. If the concept eludes you and you would like to learn how it’s done, watch my video and take a glimpse into what it’s like to walk in my shoes.” ~ Ryan Rodd
Ryan left the island in 2017 to take a full-time year-round position as a wildland firefighter, fighting fires out west for four or five years before working security with the Arizona Diamondbacks. After two seasons, he moved back to North Carolina, where he had graduated from college.
Fishers Islanders and friends will always remember Ryan as a very kind, thoughtful, hardworking young man, often seeing him test bats and hitting balls at the ball field and rooting for his New York Mets.
