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Since the time we announced the untimely passing of Zilber School of Public Health Dean Ron Perez, our long-term friend and colleague, many of you have reached out to ask what you might do to honor his memory. Ron’s widow, Christine, has asked that we establish the  at the 51���� Foundation. The fund will support underrepresented students at the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health and will memorialize Ron’s dedication and extraordinary service to 51����.

In his three decades at 51����, Ron tirelessly and fiercely advocated for our students. He administered scholarships, attempting to find funding for all students who needed support. He personally encouraged his students to pursue their dreams. The  will be a lasting tribute to him and his accomplishments.

For more information about the , please contact Michele Weinschrott, director of development for the Zilber School (weinschr@uwm.edu or 414-229-3797). . All gifts will be listed in memory of Ron Perez.

Thank you for the outpouring of sympathy upon Ron’s passing, as well as the shared memories of the light and hope he brought to all who knew him. He will be missed, and his legacy will live on through our students.

Best regards,

Mark A. Mone, PhD
Chancellor

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

By Laura Otto
51���� Report
December 21, 2020

Over and over in his 30-year career at 51����, Ron Perez was asked to accomplish necessary tasks that weren’t always glamorous, yet he dove in with enthusiasm, relished his colleagues and never said no.

Friends and colleagues remember him as the go-to administrator with an unwavering commitment to 51����, a talented engineer who was devoted to STEM education, and a playful spirit who loved sports, sweets and going to Disney World.

Perez, dean of the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, passed away on Dec. 16 after several months of illness. He was 59.

“Ron was such a people person,” said Michael Laiosa, associate professor of environmental health sciences and Zilber faculty chair. “He was put in a leadership position on so many campus initiatives because, at the end of the day, he always put others before himself.”

Many roles at 51����

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.

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’s interim dean in 2015. He was named Zilber dean in 2018.

“He was so successful that, two years after becoming interim dean, the faculty came to me and requested that he become their permanent dean,” said Britz. “It’s the first time in my years at 51���� that has ever happened.”

Perez approached his profession with loyalty and passion, colleagues said.

“He performed each of the 50% appointments as if they were 100% appointments,” said Paula Rhyner, professor emeritus of health sciences who worked Perez on the 51���� Restructuring Team that integrated the Waukesha and Washington County campuses with 51���� in 2018. “And, during the two years we were on the transition team together, he was the one also driving to Madison to represent 51����. I don’t know how he did it — and he always did it pleasantly, taking time to foster relationships with people.”

Born in Dominican Republic

Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Perez earned his engineering bachelor’s 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.

Perez had multiple job offers when starting his academic career in 1990, but he chose 51���� 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.

“He always had a soft spot for the Miami Dolphins,” Dhingra said. “But he later became a diehard Packers fan and would sit in freezing cold weather at Lambeau to watch the games.”

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.

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.

‘Nobody who didn’t like him’

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. “We became known as ‘Ron, Ron and Rhonda’ because of our camaraderie,” Litwack said.

“There’s nobody who didn’t like him, and there was nobody that he disliked,” Rhyner said. “We laughed all the time, but he was also very professional and an effective leader.”

Those who worked with Perez regularly said he had his endearing quirks.

He never drank coffee, Litwack said, but he’d want to meet at coffee shops that he knew had good hot chocolate and would give him extra whipped cream.

He also had a knack for putting people around him at ease by cracking self-deprecating jokes. And he wasn’t afraid to give up a little dignity for that purpose. At a Zilber 1980s punk rock-themed holiday party in 2018, Perez surprised everyone by attending in costume although no one else was. Shabnam Nikravan, a master’s student who had just begun working in the dean’s office, described his get-up as “outrageous and amazing.”

“He walked in with a spiky black wig — think Garth from Wayne’s World — a heavy metal T-shirt tucked into his khakis, and fake tattoos down both arms,” she said. “Any nerves I had about working under the dean of my school went away real fast.”

Supporting students

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’s degree in public health, which launched in spring of 2019.

“He 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,” Laiosa said.

Perez delivered service in droves: He was on the Chancellor’s 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’s 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.

“There’s no one person who can replace him,” said Britz. “You’d need multiple ‘Rons’ to accomplish all that he did. Not many people have that skill set.”

‘Thanks a million’

To acknowledge the contributions of others, Perez would always end his emails with “thanks a million,” remembered Rhyner.

“I would bet that there are thousands of emails that Ron sent to colleagues, students and community partners that either began or ended with “thanks a million!” she said. “If I could talk with him now, I would say, ‘Rest in peace, my friend, and thanks a million!’”

Perez is survived by his wife, Christine, and daughter, Kennedy, a student at UW-Madison.

A service honoring Perez’s life will livestreamed at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 29. A link to the livestream will be available  that morning. A public visitation will then take place at the funeral home from 2 to 5 p.m.

The family is in the process of establishing the Ron Perez Legacy Fund, which will provide scholarships for underrepresented students at UW-Milwaukee. In lieu of flowers, a memorial donation in Perez’s name may be made to the scholarship fund. The donation may be made out to Christine Perez, and can be mailed to the Feerick Funeral Home. The donation will then be deposited into the Ron Perez Legacy Fund.

By Devi Shastri

December 18, 2020

Ron Perez loved his work.

In three decades working for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and its students, Perez held an array of roles: teaching engineering classes; overseeing the unification of campuses in Milwaukee, Waukesha and Washington County; serving in the chancellor’s cabinet; and — the job that brought him the most pride — working as dean of the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health.

“The work was his life,” said 51���� Provost Johannes Britz. “He was absolutely, passionately dedicated to being an educator. Not just work — there’s a difference — for him it was a calling.”

Perez died Wednesday after a several months battling a terminal brain illness. He was 59.

Perez’s career saw him champion and achieve major milestones for 51����. He worked tirelessly to make 51���� the first in the state to have an accredited school of public health, and more recently to add an undergraduate program. He co-chaired the team that oversaw 51����’s merger with its satellite campuses. He served in Chancellor Mark Mone’s cabinet in a first-ever role aimed at improving campus culture.

“One of my first thoughts when I heard that Ron had passed away was, ‘I can’t even imagine 51���� without Ron Perez,’” said Paula Rhyner, who led 51����’s merger alongside Perez. “Because he was in so many places.”

When 51����’s school of public health finally gained accreditation — a designation that verifies the quality of the school’s education — Mayor Tom Barrett called to congratulate Perez and 

“It’s a huge effort,” Rhyner said. “A lot of us wondered if Ron ever slept.”

Perez was well-known for his dedication and work ethic from early in his career, when he taught in 51����’s engineering college.

Anoop Dhingra, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, met Perez when they were in graduate school at Purdue University. The two took teaching jobs at 51���� in 1990, and remained close friends since.

“He would be in bright and early at 8 o’clock and when I would be leaving around 5:30, 6 o’clock, he still would be sitting there, helping out students,” Dhingra said.

Even when he took the helm at 51����’s school of public health, he went out of his way — in true engineering fashion — to find solutions to the problems they faced.

He found funding so students in his college could take a required statistics preparation course for free, rather than pay out of pocket, wrangled scholarships for anyone who needed one and personally encouraged students to pursue their dreams.

Shabnam Nikravan, a doctoral student in the Zilber School of Public Health, said she didn’t even know Perez very well when he walked up to her one day and told her he thought she should pursue her doctorate.

“What would convince you?” she remembered Perez asking. “Because you’re capable. What do you need?”

He helped her get a job as the school’s admissions coordinator, to help fund her degree. He found her scholarships.

“He was such a champion for me,” Nikravan said. “But he was like that for everyone.”

When the campuses in Washington County and Waukesha began the uncertain and stressful work of merging with 51����, Perez was an approachable and caring leader for all involved, said Jackie Joseph-Silverstein, former dean and executive director of the southeast region of UW Colleges.

“He really wanted to understand the campuses, the people, how they were feeling about the transition,” Joseph-Silverstein said. “He was a great leader. He understood the importance of listening to people.”

Perez was known for his ability to get along with anyone and his sense of humor and excitement.

Nikravan remembers him showing up to an ’80s-themed party at the school of public health where the only real sign of a theme was the music and Perez — who came dressed in a Wayne’s World wig, fake tattoo sleeves, and a metal band T-shirt carefully tucked into his pleated khakis.

Britz, who counts Perez among his best friends, would prank him by calling Perez during meetings, and Perez would panic and then laugh.

Dhingra’s kids still call him “Officer Ron,” from when Perez worked as a volunteer patrol officer in Cedarburg for the excitement of riding in a squad car.

Perez met his wife, Christine, in the 51���� library in the early ’90s. The two fell in love and got married, never celebrating an anniversary because every day was special. He was a picky eater, but loved Jimmy John’s and — after Christine finally got him to try it — Kopps custard.

He was an avid traveler and wanted his family to experience the world, Christine said. He loved his 18-year-old daughter, Kennedy, deeply. He was in the stands at every one of her sporting events and wanted her to get the best possible education.

Perez was born in the Dominican Republic and visited his family there multiple times a year. He also created international partnerships that brought students to Milwaukee to study, including a longstanding exchange program in Colombia.

“I was so proud of him. He was a very humble person. When somebody would ask him, where do you work, he would just say 51����,” Christine Perez said. “He would never say, ‘Oh, I’m the dean of the (school of public health).’ I loved that about him.”

Perez is survived by his wife, Christine; daughter, Kennedy; mother; Lourdes; brothers Mario and Arnold; and sister, Audrey. Planning for a memorial fund is underway.

Contact Devi Shastri at 414-224-2193 or DAShastri@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at .