Ronald Ansin Athol MA, Well-known Philanthropist and LGBT advocate has died

Ronald Ansin Death – Ronald Ansin of Worcester, Massachusetts, a Philanthropist and former Massachusetts commerce commissioner has passed away. He was announced dead on Wednesday, June 28th, 2023, through a social media publication that read “My extraordinary Godfather Ronald Ansin passed away today. He was both the smartest and most kind man I’ve ever known.” According to sources, Ron died following a battle with an illness.

Who was Ronald Ansin?

Ronald Ansin was born to a Jewish family, in Worcester, Massachusetts, and raised in nearby Athol, Massachusetts. In 1936, his father, Sidney D. Ansin, the son of a Ukrainian immigrant, founded Anwelt Shoe, a shoe-manufacturing business in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He moved the family to Florida in 1941. His parents were the founding members of Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach. Ronald bought Anwelt Shoe from his father in 1966.

His brother was later Edmund N. Ansin who was an American billionaire and co-founder of Sunbeam Television. Ron had married and raised his own family of four children in Leominster, but rather late in life, he came out as gay. Ansin’s philanthropy included the gay community. According to Boston Spirit magazine, Ron is a key figure in the area’s LGBT community.

About Ronald Ansin

The publication noted his support for Fenway Health, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, and his partnership with Dr. Jerry Groopman to found the Mapplethorpe Laboratory for AIDS research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His name is on the Ansin Building, the organization’s headquarters and “the largest facility ever constructed by an organization with a specific mission to serve the LGBT community,” according to Fenway Health’s website.

He was described as a smart person and a kind man. He did so much good in this world to advance civil rights, human dignity, health, science, and LGBT equality and to improve all the communities he cared about — his greatest joy was helping others. Ron was loved and cherished by his husband Jim Stork. Jim has devoted all of his life’s energies to making Ron’s life better with a level of love and devotion that was without compare.

Ronald Ansin’s obituary and funeral arrangements will be released by the family at a later date.

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