Brian Hannan asked me if I could post this for him-
Ron and I spoke daily, often several times, and I shared his dreams for the future of GA and AOPA. It was only because of Ron that I accepted the offer to come on the AOPA Board.
The bridges he was building with the regulators, industry, and pilots are a tribute to his enthusiasm and personal ethos and he was taking a lot of unpaid time to achieve all this on behalf of all GA, not just AOPA, at a time when his family commitments were heavy. An extraordinary person I was lucky to know for a too brief time.
In remembering Ron and his vision, I am reminded of the words of aboriginal elder Winnie Q in 1988 "You know that I have some beautiful dreams and I urge you to start work on them as soon as possible".
RIP Ron.
Brian Hannan
Maybe we should start working on that dream ASAP! Why does it take someone like Ron to make us realise how fragile and petty we have become.
Mark Jones