Ronald Li ’64

Ron died after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer July 19, 2014, soon after our 50th reunion. It was the first five-year reunion he missed since graduation.

Ron was born in Kunming, China, in 1943 as his family moved west, ahead of the advancing Japanese forces. They arrived in the United States in 1945. Ron came to Princeton from Great Neck South High School in Great Neck, N.Y. He took meals at Dial Lodge, roomed with John Streicker, and wrote his thesis on what he declared was an always-exciting topic: “The Effects of a Single Dose of Ultraviolet Light on Regeneration of Planaria.”

Ron received his medical degree from Columbia University and subsequently, as a major in the Air Force, practiced urology at Dwight-Patterson Air Force Base and obtained an MBA from University of Dayton. Although a successful urologist, Ron pursued careers as varied as sheep farming and, recently, developing more than 60 high-end “spec” homes in Hilton Head and multi-family projects in Savannah. He was a blue-water sailor and an active outdoorsman.

Ron is survived by his partner of almost 20 years and wife for the last one, Janet Palmer Li; his daughter, Christina; and two grandchildren.