November 20, 1934 - April 22, 2024
Nelson, Ronald John, MD Age 89, passed away peacefully on April 22. Preceded in death by his loving wife Ruth, his brother Wayne, and his parents Clarence and Magnhild; and special Aunt Olive and Uncle Arnie. Survived by children Dan (Kathryn), Peter (Natalie) and Kristen (Dave); and grandchildren Andrew, Lillian, Hannah, Marley, Noah, Aidan, Sawyer and Elliott; and sister-in-law Melissa.
Born in 1934 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Ron decided at a young age that he wanted to study medicine. He earned his BS and MD at the University of Minnesota. In 1958, soon after completing medical school, he attended Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena to prepare to serve as a medical missionary. It was there he met his wife, Ruth Needels. After their year at Fuller, the two were married and moved to Seattle where Ron started his residency at Harborview Hospital and Ruth worked as a public health nurse. The next year they were given the chance to live out their dream to enter the medical missionary field and were assigned to a 40-patient hospital in Ethiopia, where Ron was the lead doctor and Ruth taught local residents to be “dressers” (nurses, lab technicians, etc.). After a year in Ethiopia, Ruth and Ron returned to the U.S. so that Ron could further his surgical training. Their son Dan was born shortly after their return in 1963 while the young couple lived in Bellevue and Ron completed his surgical residency. In 1965 their son Peter was born.
Ron and Ruth moved to Southern California in 1968, where their daughter Kristen was born. Ron served as Chief of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at Harbor General Hospital (now Harbor UCLA Medical Center) for 21 years. While there he participated in many pioneering surgical procedures, including the first heart transplant in Southern California. In 2013 the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (now Lundquist Institute) named Ron a LA Bio-med Legend.
In 1970 the family settled in Palos Verdes Estates where they lived for over 30 years. In 1991 Ron and Ruth moved to Santa Monica where Ron took a position as Director of Cardiac Surgery at St. John’s Hospital and bought a condominium overlooking the Pacific Ocean, which they loved. Ron retired in 1998 from his position at St. John’s Hospital.
Being physically active was important to Ron and brought him much joy. Ron ran 10Ks and marathons, backpacked in the Sierra Nevadas, canoed in the Minnesota boundary waters, and, in his later years, walked often. Ron also loved to draw, paint and experiment with cooking during his retirement years.
In 2007 Ron and Ruth moved to Seattle, Washington to live closer to their son, Dan and his family, and in 2009 moved into Skyline Retirement Community where he lived for fifteen more years and made many friends. Ron and Ruth also reconnected with many life-long friends from their years in Seattle in the 1960s.