Ronald (Ron) Rosenberg

August 18, 1947 – February 1, 2021

Ronald Eagle Rosenberg was born in Selma, Alabama, on August 18, 1947, to Richard Adler Rosenberg and Elsye Louise Eagle.

Ron grew up and attended school in Selma. In his senior year of high school, he transferred to Stockbridge School in Massachusetts, and later graduated from Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, with a degree in Psychology.

Ron’s parents were Jewish, and Ron received religious education from rabbis, but in rural Alabama, as a child, he also attended Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, and Catholic Churches in succession. At Antioch College, he was encouraged by Yellow Springs Friends to join activist involvement in Civil Rights, and he remained close to Quaker families during his years there.

While still in high school, Ron was also introduced to Buddhism, and in the 1970s practiced Tibetan Buddhism in Boulder, Colorado, continuing that practice when he moved to Atlanta in 1982. There he met and was influenced by a Quaker, Austin Wattles, with whom he helped form the Refugee Committee of Atlanta Committee on Latin America. He became a regular attender at Atlanta Meeting, and was accepted into membership there.

Ron felt an affinity between Tibetan Buddhist practices and Quaker Meetings for Worship. When he applied to transfer his membership to Pima Meeting in 1990, he wrote, “The Meeting for Worship is not dissimilar to Tibetan Buddhist practice. And, not infrequently, the quiet centeredness, warmth, and giving pause and space exemplified by the Meeting diffuses into the daily interaction of the members.”

Ron was married under the care of Pima Monthly Meeting in 1994 to Mary Marjorie King.

His work was varied, but always involved care for human rights, especially the rights of migrants, including accessible medical care, health kits, and counseling services. He would report briefly on these activities when he was able to attend Meeting in Tucson, and up until his passing he was working on these issues together with a mission in Guatemala.

Ron chose to retire in Tepoztlán, Mexico, and passed away of COVID in Cuernavaca in February 2021. Family and friends held a memorial service by Zoom on October 16, 2021, and an interment of his ashes in Selma, according to his wishes, was held on April 20, 2024.

Approved at Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, 11th day, Eighth Month, 2024