User:FabulousBoys/sandbox

{{Infobox person
 * name       = Brent Ridge
 * image      = http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=614&tbm=isch&tbnid=OlTpn8wfztnQDM:&imgrefurl=http://www.changingagingblog.org/posts/view/311-10-questions-with../&imgurl=http://www.ecumen.org/changing-aging/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/brent-ridge.JPG&w=1548&h=1728&ei=wL84UPTCAoLX6wGtuoGYAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=241&vpy=130&dur=4269&hovh=237&hovw=212&tx=126&ty=135&sig=101319846150740904488&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=139&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:79
 * image_size =
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 * birth_date = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1973|5|10}}
 * birth_place = Randleman, North Carolina, United States
 * nationality = American
 * education  = Randleman High School
 * alma_mater = UNC Chapel Hill, NYU
 * home_town  = Randleman, NC
 * residence  = Sharon Springs, New York
 * occupation = Founder of Beekman 1802
 * spouse     = Josh Kilmer-Purcell
 * website    = Official website

Early life
Brent Ridge grew up in Randleman, NC.

He graduated from the University of North Carolina –Chapel Hill with a B.S in Public Health. During his undergraduate years, he was the first ever recipient of the Burch Fellowship, a prestigious academic award that funded his research on the Hauroni. As part of this research, he lived among the Hauroni in the Ecuadorean Amazonia for 3 months, studying the impact of petroleum exploration on indigenous people. His research was recognized with the designation of Highest Honors at graduation.

He was accepted into the University of North Carolina School of Medicine as part of the Early Acceptance Program. During medical school he was awarded fellowships to study socialized medicine in England as well as a grant from the American Federation of Aging Research which enabled him to work on the New England Centenarian Project at Harvard University

After medical school, he completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Columbia University and a fellowship in geriatric medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City

Career
After completing his fellowship, he was offered the position of Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He was responsible for clinical care as well as medical student education. He was also the Director of the hospital’s ACE (Acute Care of the Elderly) inpatient unit.

In 2005, he matriculated at the New York University Stern School of Business and received and MBA

He returned to Mount Sinai with the title of Director of Clinical Strategy.

He was responsible for working with the famed architect IM Pei to design a new center for the care of older adults at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Once the design was complete, he wrote Martha Stewart a letter while she was incarcerated asking her to consider becoming the benefactor of the new center. The Martha Stewart Center for Living was dedicated to Martha Stewart’s mother, Martha Kostyra and is now one of the largest centers for the care of older adults in the world.

Martha Stewart subsequently wrote about his entrepreneurial drive in her book, The Martha Rules

Later career
After opening the Center for Living, Dr. Ridge was asked to join Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia as the Vice President for Healthy Living, a new core area of the company devoted to health and wellness, working on developing healthy living initiatives across the companies media and merchandise divisions

In 2008, he was laid off from the company amidst the recession, but remains friends with the company’s founder. Martha Stewart has appeared in several episodes of the Fabulous Beekman Boys.

In 2010, Epicurious.com named Brent and his partner, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, among others as “The next Martha Stewarts”. Brent has joked that it takes two men to equal one Martha.

Beekman 1802
After losing his job at MSO during the recession of 2008, Brent moved to a weekend property he had purchased in Sharon Springs, NY, and launched Beekman 1802, a lifestyle company devoted to seasonal living.

The company produces a wide range of products in the beauty, gourmet foods, home décor and gardening areas. They have had business relationships with retailers such as Anthropologie, Henri Bendel, Williams-Sonoma, John Derian, ABC Carpet & Home and others

NASDAQ has called Beekman 1802 “one of the fastest growing lifestyle brands in the United States”

The launch of the company was documented in the docu-series, The Fabulous Beekman Boys, which aired for 2 seasons on Discovery Communication’s Planet Green channel. When that channel folded, the show was purchased by Scripps and can be seen on The Cooking Channel.

The original Beekman 1802 Mercantile on Main Street in Sharon Spring, NY, can still be visited and Brent can often be seen in the shop when he is not traveling.

In 2011, The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook, was published by Sterling Epicure. Brent and Josh subsequently signed a multi-book deal with Rodale. Beekman 1802 Heirloom Desserts will be published in September 2013.

Personal life
Brent Ridge met his partner, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, 15 years ago on a website. Josh was the first man that Brent had ever dated.

They were engaged in December 2011