Over and over in his 30-year career at 51ÁÔÆæ, Ron Perez was asked to accomplish necessary tasks that weren\u2019t always glamorous, yet he dove in with enthusiasm, relished his colleagues and never said no.<\/p>\n
Friends and colleagues remember him as the go-to administrator with an unwavering commitment to 51ÁÔÆæ, a talented engineer who was devoted to STEM education, and a playful spirit who loved sports, sweets and going to Disney World.<\/p>\n
Perez, dean of the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, passed away on Dec. 16 after several months of illness. He was 59.<\/p>\n
\u201cRon was such a people person,\u201d said Michael Laiosa, associate professor of environmental health sciences and Zilber faculty chair. \u201cHe was put in a leadership position on so many campus initiatives because, at the end of the day, he always put others before himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
He served the campus in a wide range of roles, beginning as an assistant professor in the College of Engineering & Applied Science. He later served as an associate dean in the college and, from 2007-2008, interim dean.<\/p>\n
In 2014, Provost Johannes Britz asked Perez if he would take on the duties of associate dean at Zilber because he was so competent in the similar position at Engineering & Applied Science. Perez split his time between duties as associate dean in both schools for a year before taking the reins as Zilber\u2019s interim dean in 2015. He was named Zilber dean in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was so successful that, two years after becoming interim dean, the faculty came to me and requested that he become their permanent dean,\u201d said Britz. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time in my years at 51ÁÔÆæ that has ever happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez approached his profession with loyalty and passion, colleagues said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe performed each of the 50% appointments as if they were 100% appointments,\u201d said Paula Rhyner, professor emeritus of health sciences who worked Perez on the 51ÁÔÆæ Restructuring Team that integrated the Waukesha and Washington County campuses with 51ÁÔÆæ in 2018. \u201cAnd, during the two years we were on the transition team together, he was the one also driving to Madison to represent 51ÁÔÆæ. I don\u2019t know how he did it \u2013 and he always did it pleasantly, taking time to foster relationships with people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Perez earned his engineering bachelor\u2019s degree cum laude from the Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra. He moved to the U.S. to attend graduate school at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.<\/p>\n
Perez had multiple job offers when starting his academic career in 1990, but he chose 51ÁÔÆæ because he liked the city and the fact that it had an NBA basketball team and a major league baseball team, said Anoop Dhingra, associate professor of mechanical engineering who joined the faculty at about the same time as Perez.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe always had a soft spot for the Miami Dolphins,\u201d Dhingra said. \u201cBut he later became a diehard Packers fan and would sit in freezing cold weather at Lambeau to watch the games.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an engineering faculty member, Perez often kept office hours for his students that began at 8 a.m. and ended at 7 p.m. five days a week. He also regularly traveled to South American countries to recruit students to study at the College of Engineering & Applied Science. Then, once they arrived, Perez would check on them to see if they had settled in comfortably.<\/p>\n
A scholar of control theory and its applications in building control, renewable energy and robotics, Perez consulted with industries such as A.O. Smith, Harley-Davidson and E.R. Wagner Manufacturing.<\/p>\n
In 2017, the deans of the College of Nursing, the Zilber School and College of Health Sciences formed the Partners for Health program to increase collaboration and resource-sharing among the schools. While creating that project, Perez worked closely with nursing dean Kim Litwack and then-health sciences dean Ron Cisler. \u201cWe became known as \u2018Ron, Ron and Rhonda\u2019 because of our camaraderie,\u201d Litwack said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nobody who didn\u2019t like him, and there was nobody that he disliked,\u201d Rhyner said. \u201cWe laughed all the time, but he was also very professional and an effective leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who worked with Perez regularly said he had his endearing quirks.<\/p>\n
He never drank coffee, Litwack said, but he\u2019d want to meet at coffee shops that he knew had good hot chocolate and would give him extra whipped cream.<\/p>\n
He also had a knack for putting people around him at ease by cracking self-deprecating jokes. And he wasn\u2019t afraid to give up a little dignity for that purpose. At a Zilber 1980s punk rock-themed\u00a0holiday party in 2018, Perez surprised everyone by attending in costume although no one else was. Shabnam Nikravan, a master\u2019s student who had just begun working in the dean\u2019s office, described his get-up as \u201coutrageous and amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe walked in with a spiky black wig \u2013 think Garth from Wayne\u2019s World \u2013 a heavy metal T-shirt tucked into his khakis, and fake tattoos down both arms,\u201d she said. \u201cAny nerves I had about working under the dean of my school went away real fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his tenure at Zilber, Perez was especially proud of two accomplishments, said Laiosa. One was obtaining a significant gift for student scholarships and continued support of the school from the Zilber Family Foundation. He also convinced the faculty and the university to offer a bachelor\u2019s degree in public health, which launched in spring of 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe viewed the degree program as a gateway for many students who might not be interested in medicine, nursing or other traditional biomedical careers to become leaders in protecting the health of our population,\u201d Laiosa said.<\/p>\n
Perez delivered service in droves: He was on the Chancellor\u2019s Committee for Hispanic Serving Initiatives and had just begun as the inaugural special assistant to the chancellor for strategic cultural change. He taught in the College of Engineering & Applied Science\u2019s Center for Continuing Education and in the TRIO Pre-College Summer Program. He sat on dozens of task forces, committees in the faculty senate and was a member of the University Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no one person who can replace him,\u201d said Britz. \u201cYou\u2019d need multiple \u2018Rons\u2019 to accomplish all that he did. Not many people have that skill set.\u201d<\/p>\n
To acknowledge the contributions of others, Perez would always end his emails with \u201cthanks a million,\u201d remembered Rhyner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would bet that there are thousands of emails that Ron sent to colleagues, students and community partners that either began or ended with \u201cthanks a million!\u201d she said. \u201cIf I could talk with him now, I would say, \u2018Rest in peace, my friend, and thanks a million!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez is survived by his wife, Christine, and daughter, Kennedy, a student at UW-Madison.<\/p>\n