Birth date: Sep 22, 1946 Death date: Aug 24, 2025
Ronald Joseph Wagner, 78, passed away on August 24, 2025. Ron was born in Philadelphia, PA to William Wagner and Doris Wagner (Lauderbach). Ron was preceded in passing by his loving wife Lynne Wagner, his parents, and his brother Read Obituary
If it wasn't for Ron I would of never gotten through High School (CHS). He was like a dad to me when my own father wasn't there. He helped me get a college scholarship. I thank God for his guidance and support all through my formative years. I worked in the Guidance Office during my Senior year and got to know Ron. He will be missed by all of us. RIP.
Ron was one of a kind.
A tough kid from the hardscrabble streets of Philadelphia who overcame physical challenges to live a full and active life. He maintained a positive presence in the lives of many people throughout his life. He served the community through a long and distinguished career as an educator, was devoted to his family and friends, and impacted my life and many others in positive ways.
Ron was a big part of my life for almost 40 years. In that time Ron continuously impressed me with his outgoing personality, his friendliness, his deep knowledge, and his determination.
He was a wonderful father to Ryan and Courtney, an active and involved grandfather to his grandchildren. And he was an incredibly involved uncle to our son Zachary. Ron’s presence in Zachary’s life was an impactful and positive thing for Zachary over the years. I will always be grateful for Ron’s gift of caring for Zachary, along with all the care he showed to his whole family. I am especially grateful to the commitment he made to his late wife Lynne over the many years of her dealing with cancer. Ron set a standard of involvement and care that would be hard for anyone to surpass.
As a professional educator, Ron’s caring for the multitude of students he worked with over the years is a monument to his commitment and care as a teacher and counselor. He touched hundreds and hundreds of lives in a substantial and positive fashion.
Despite his damaged leg, Ron was always up for doing whatever needed to be done to make sure that his family had everything they needed and more. And while he couldn’t run worth a darn, he still stayed active and competitive be it softball, swimming, pool, and many other endeavors.
We were blessed to have had a huge number of summer vacations with Ron and his family. These were times filled with all sorts of highlights, be it card games, whiffle ball, fun in the water and nights of stories and laughter.
The world was a better place with Ron in it and he will be missed immensely by me and so many others.
Thank you for being an important part of my life for so many years, Ron. I love you and appreciate you!
Ron was my brother-in-law. I was fifteen when he came into our lives, renting the apartment attached to our house. He came to Severna Park, Maryland, fresh out of college, to teach history at the high school. He rode into town in his shiny new gold mustang, won the love of my sister Lynne, and wound his way inextricably into the hearts of our family.
He was a natural born storyteller, and a good one. He regaled us with stories from his childhood in the rough and tumble streets of South Philly. Enlivening our provincial, suburban lives with tales of his family and neighborhood. Stickball games, fire plug wrenches and all manner of mischief. His love and enduring loyalty immortalizing his friends in stories…the names of Joe, Nicki, Chico , brothers Wayne, Dennis and Richard, cousins Gwen and Diane…all arising over and over again until they felt like our own friends, even if we had never met them. He made lifelong friendships that he nurtured with love and care. And then there was his lifelong love of Italian food born in childhood from the kitchens of his friends’ mothers, related through stories told with gratitude and delight.
Like a new chapter in a well loved book a new set of stories arose, sourced from his colleagues who became friends…Leo and Hank and names too innumerable for me to remember.
He was a popular teacher and well loved, as he had a knack for bringing the complexities of history and government down to street level. He was a serious historian, a wicked good trivia master in many arenas and a convincing JFK “conspiracy theorist” (that is, truth teller). long before that narrative had any real traction in the public realm. He loved his country, but also truth and freedom, and didn’t let one override the other.
When Lynne and Ron started their family, my mother and I had moved to California. After Ryan and Courtney were born we would come to visit. I was always impressed by the time and attention Ron gave so freely to his kids. Playing and teaching them sports and card games (poker with all those pennies for chips) and the like. Mostly that he didn’t resent them being around and underfoot as so many fathers that came before did. That same inclusivity was shown to our son Zachary who has Down’s Syndrome. Ron always went out of his way to have a friendship with him, teaching him sports and cards (500!) and having conversations with him on the many vacations our families spent together lakeside in Vermont. And he was well loved for it.
Come to think of it, he gave us all sports and cards. Those activities punctuated all our family time together and bound us like glue!
I am forever indebted to Ron for the steadfast support he showed Lynne during her long health challenge with cancer. He faithfully accompanied her to every appointment, every chemo session and saw her through all the rough parts.
I am grateful too for his natural acceptance of my parents and the care and concern he showed them, particularly as they aged.
In his professional life, especially when he went into counseling, it was stunning to witness the prodigious number of lives he was influencing and the commitment and care he brought to helping so many students achieve their best. When we would visit as years went by and my husband Michael would go out to the store with Ron, he was overwhelmed by how many younger people would stop them, saying “Hi Mr. Wagner!” He said Ron would reply “Hi Bud!” because of course he couldn’t remember all those names over so many years.
Ron was an exceptional person, a loyal and reliable source of support in so many ways and we have all been blessed to have him in our lives. Love is Eternal and he is eternally loved. I’ll be looking for him on the other side.
Janice Baker
Please accept my deepest condolences. Mr. Wagner was a great guy. He always seen the best in everyone and encouraged you to do your best. Class of 1983. Donald Green.
ONE TOUGH COOKIE
My lifelong friend, Ronny Wagner, died last Sunday, August 24th. I told him many times and have repeated to others that he was one tough kid. Now it may sound strange to speak of someone who lived to near 80 as a “kid” but when you grow up with your buddies, in the old neighborhood, and share our culture, life events and comradery, it’s how I choose to remember him the most.
If you look up the phrase, “One Tough Cookie” on an AI site you will see it defined as:
“A person who is physically and emotionally strong resilient and not easily hurt or defeated by difficulties or what others say. They are strong willed and can endure hardships, standing up for themselves and not letting others take advantage of them.”
As a young boy, Ron had to deal with a major hurdle. His left leg was weak and, according to Ron, was broken at least 7 times. This resulted in his having to wear a heavy metal brace in order to be able to walk because back in the 50’s, the technology had not allowed for the, light weight, state of the art devices of today. Naturally, it was very difficult for him to move around and most guys in this position would never even think of competing in sports.
But not Ron.
He roughed it up with all of us, engaging in Two-hand touch football and other games. During the game, he couldn’t run but he sure could catch a bullet pass. He had a great pair of hands and I, as the usual quarterback, would look to him as a reliable receiver once the other team made the mistake of disregarding Ron’s offensive threat. Ron would hobble down field, move back and forth, until he was open and even try to advance the ball after he caught it.
Back in those days, Philly actually had big snowstorms which meant we would joyfully gather in the St. Barnabus school yard to play tackle football. In 6 or 8 inches of snow, no one could move well so Ron was delighted with these conditions because now everyone was on equal footing. (No pun intended here, but actually a pretty good one!) Ron saw these conditions as advantageous. I can understand why. Consider how you would do if you were visiting Ray Charles in his home and at midnight there was a power failure. Which one of you would be able to move around without falling down or knocking things over? Disability…nullified.
Aside from his obvious competitiveness, which I always admired, I always marveled at his intellect and willingness to voice his strong opinions. One of my favorite “Ronny stories” concerns his attending a history class, at Temple University, just after the quelling of the April 1968 riots in North Philadelphia, that occurred on the fringes of Temple’s campus. Much looting occurred of the stores on Columbia Ave, with rioters helping themselves to anything they could carry. So, when safety was restored, the classes resumed. Being a staunch, Conservative, law and order guy, Ron had little tolerance for listening to his very liberal teacher begin the class by making excuses for the rioters as to why they acted as they did. At one point she uttered, “Those people are poor and hungry.” That was it, he had had enough! From his seat in the back of the room, Ronny yelled, “They can’t eat Television Sets”!
That’s the guy I love! No nonsense, enough is enough.
After earning his degree, he settled in Maryland and had a wonderful career in the education field, as both a teacher and counselor. He had an encyclopedic memory, as it related to history and his devotion and love for his students was recognized by all. He found the love of his life, the beautiful Lynne, and they married and raised two children, Courtney and Ryan who themselves have become wonderful parents along with their spouses, Chris and Bekah. Tragically, Lynne passed away 20 years ago and not surprisingly, Ron met the challenge of her illness with love and caring. He was a proud grandfather and he would keep me up to date with the achievements of the kids. He remained a Phillies fan and resisted the peer pressure of flipping to the “home team.” His many friends came to learn of this very quickly. He was a basketball coach for the kids, a trivia buff, a daily swimmer and an amateur pool hustler with his buddies.
Not long ago, Ron was diagnosed with the disease that would be his biggest challenge. He endured the aggressive treatments with courage and dignity. I was blessed to be in contact with him throughout. I never heard a “why me”? He passed away with his family, including his brothers, Wayne and Rich by his side. They never heard a “Why me” either!
Rest in peace, buddy. I love you.
Chico
