Timothy Colin Ronan, 43, of New Harbor and Pelham, N.Y., passed away March 9 at his parents’ home in New Harbor with his loving family by his side.
He was born June 9, 1965, in Bronx, N.Y., a son of Richard and Cathleen McCabe Ronan.
During his childhood and young adult years he lived in Larchmont, N.Y. and was a current resident of Pelham, N.Y. He attended Larchmont and Mamaroneck public schools, playing hockey for MHS and competing in sailing regattas on Long Island Sound as a member of the Larchmont Yacht Club. He was a graduate of Colgate University, Class of 1987.
At the time of his first diagnosis of a primary brain tumor in 1994, Tim was a legal assistant in the corporate department at Proskauer Rose LLP. His illness and subsequent treatments necessitated important life changes. He put aside his plan to pursue an MBA at Columbia and devoted the following 15 years to meeting the challenges of complex disabilities.
He continued to develop his love and talent for photography, generously giving his work to fundraisers and admirers of art photography.
Tim volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and helped coach a hockey team for developmentally disabled children.
Tim turned his enthusiasm for blue water yacht racing to studying yacht design with the Westlawn program and then building small water crafts, including a DN ice boat, a 17′ Wherry rowing boat, and with his brother’s father-in-law, a Norwegian tern sailboat. Tim was accepted into the marine carpentry program at The Landing School in Kennebunk, but this dream was routed by the brain tumor’s reappearance.
Tim was predeceased by his paternal grandparents, Thomas E. and Susan Driscoll Ronan of Athens, Penn. and Larchmont, N.Y.; maternal grandparents, Charles and Catherine Conroy McCabe of Larchmont, N.Y.; and uncle, Thomas M. Ronan of Larchmont, N.Y.
He is survived by his parents, Richard and Cathleen McCabe Ronan; sister, Jeanne Marie Ronan of Port Chester, N.Y.; brother, Daniel Ronan and wife Karen Oen Ronan of Mamaroneck, N.Y.; nieces, Allison and Katrina Ronan of Mamaroneck, N.Y.; nephew, Stephen Ronan of Mamaroneck, N.Y.; uncle and aunt, Charles and Lynn McCabe of New Rochelle, N.Y.; uncle and aunt, Bill and Anna McCabe of Greenwich, Conn.; and six cousins and their families.
Memorial celebration 4 p.m., Sat., May 30 at the Pemaquid Lighthouse in New Harbor. Rev. Robert Ives will officiate.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Tim’s memory may be made to The Carpenter’s Boatshop, 440 Old County Rd., Pemaquid, ME 04558 or to MSK Brain Tumor Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, P.O. Box 27106, NY, NY 10087.
Arrangements are entrusted to Hall Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 949 Main St., Waldoboro.
