Birth date: Mar 30, 1962 Death date: May 6, 2024
Ronan, John Francis, aged 62, passed away on Monday, May 6, 2024 in Gainesville, Florida. John was born in Boston, Massachusetts on March 30, 1962 to Francis Daniel Ronan and Mary Immaculata Cleary Ronan. After spending time in S Read Obituary
I liked John a lot. We were pals in 1990's Seattle. We both worked at Fantagraphics. He told me a story about how he and his dad watched roofers roof part of their roof, then he and his dad saved money by doing the rest of the roof themselves. Then he helped me with my roof! He was a smart generous soul, and knew a lot about comics. He influenced me as a cartoonist. R.I.P. buddy - Pat Moriarity
Missing you, my brother. Looking forward to remembering you in Gainesville with other folks soon.
He is now resting in peace
Love you, Buddy. One of the most big hearted souls I've ever known. You were a force of nature and intellect. We had some great times together. I'm proud to have helped you rekindle your love of comics in the 1990s and to lure you to Seattle, setting you on your path to comics scholarship with Dr. Ault/UF and later SAW. Playing poker without you at the table will never never be the same. You were such a proud poppa and my heart goes out to your family. Peace be with you.
John was one of my best friends in high school, in Arlington, Massachusetts. He was funny, irreverent, very smart, charismatic, and an uncompromising radical. He didn’t just question authority, he rejected it. We were all surprised, but not surprised, when he beat all the popular kids to become our senior class president. John and I went backpacking in the White Mountains, hung out, listened to the Grateful Dead, and paddled around Spy Pond on anything that would float. After high school I saw John only rarely, at his parent’s little colonial on Brewster Road in “Arlmont,” just a stone’s throw (literally) from the highway, or at the family’s beautiful house in Hull, with the big wraparound porch and ocean views. On one visit, John expressed his desire to introduce his children to the community around the Hull Yacht Club, which I gather had been important to him as a child. He loved his kids and wanted them to have all the advantages that he had. Two years ago, I had a conference in Gainesville and I called John. He picked me up at the airport and gave me a tour of the town, with the kind of street-by-street commentary that only John, by then an experienced Uber driver, could provide. A couple of days later, I blew off the conference and met up with John. He rolled up in his Charger and took me away to the Santa Fe River, where we went canoeing and swimming in the clear, spring-fed water. Adult lives get complicated, and John’s was more challenging than most, but on that day, we were just two old pals paddling around and enjoying a beautiful day and each other’s company. Fare thee well, John. Rest in peace.
I knew John for the short time we overlapped at Buckingham Browne & Nichols when I started there as a sophomore. He was unforgettable: his "wild soul and a big heart" is exactly what I remember. May his memory be a blessing to his family and all who loved him.
Watching Florida Basketball together. Can't believe he's gone.
We here at SAW, and I, am saddened to learn of the loss of SAW’s original history instructor.
When I began to think about starting a school in Gainesville, I immediately knew I could join with John and his immense love of the medium..
John LOVED COMICS! And he loved OLD Comics! He had giant stashes of them, and he would bring them in and let students rifle through them.
During our in-person year-long program, which ran from 2011-2020, we welcomed dozens of students, each who had the utterly unique experience in comics education, of handling literally hundreds of publications 50 years or older, many nearing 100 years or older.
In the below attached, students from 2018 are looking at Puck magazine from the 1880s.
John was a clumsy, but giant-hearted and generous soul. He loved the students as he loved his kids. He wanted them to have the experience of being excited by the culture as he was.
We send our love and well wishes to his family, wife Jana, and children, Daniel and Elizabeth.
He’ll be missed greatly here. Thank you so much, John. Be free.
More here on the SAW blog: https://www.sequentialartistsworkshop.org/blog/2024/5/8/remembering-john-f-ronan
