Our beloved friend, mentor, teacher, author, archivist, historian, musician and tireless fighter for Romani human rights, our dear Ron is gone. Ron you have taught and inspired us. You will live in our memory and our hearts. (January 26, 2020)
Ronald Lee was an extraordinary historian of the Roma people. John Riddell and I visited him on a rainy December 29 in St. Peters’ Hospital long-term care facility in Hamilton. He greeted us with a strong handshake and reviewed his life and personal work with animation and enthusiasm. Ron is a Romani Canadian born in Montreal who spent World War 2 in England by happenstance with friends of his parents. He returned in 1945 to Montreal, where he spent most of his adult life.
A self-educated scholar, Ron Lee became a Romani activist, journalist, linguist, and published author on the history of the Romani people. He lectured extensively for colleges, universities, and elementary and high schools in Canada and the US, and taught a seminar on the Romani diaspora at New College, University of Toronto in 2003-2008. He received an honorary degree at Queens University in 2014. For a selection of his writings see his website http://kopachi.com/
John and I were privileged to meet him in 2018 at a event of the Roma Community Centre in Toronto, of which he had been a founding executive director and also chairman of the board. The occasion was an international day of remembrance and recognition of the Romani Holocaust (Porajmos) in Europe. We honoured the memory of over 500,000 Romani who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in Europe.
That day also gave us our first opportunity to interview Ron for an article I published on the Romani and the Holocaust (https://tinyurl.com/qknp6ph).
On December 29 we had a wonderful day of reflection with Ron Lee. What a treasure for us all!