UFT Admin
- Former UFT vice president for elementary schools
Ron Jones was a devoted and beloved elementary school teacher as well as an effective and innovative union leader with 37 years of service. Ron died of natural causes at age 79, on May 28, 2025.
Ron was known for delighting kindergarten classrooms with his rendition of “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider,” but he was equally admired by adults for his creative solutions to the challenges facing union members.
Ron began his teaching career in 1967 at PS 5 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The following year, he transferred to PS 10 in Park Slope, where he helped lead the school’s strike committee in the union’s 1968 strike and became the chapter leader. He would remain at PS 10 for the rest of his teaching career.
Ron wore many hats for the union over the years: He was a school chapter leader and then became the UFT District 15 representative in 1973, a vice president for elementary schools starting in 1993, and an executive assistant to the president and the UFT secretary starting in 2002. He has been called the “father of Teacher’s Choice and school-based options” for helping create these two important programs that UFT members cherish today.
“Ron was a great leader of the largest division of the UFT, and he always fought hard on their behalf, and on behalf of all members, in all divisions,” said former union treasurer Mel Aaronson, who was a founder of the UFT.
Tom Murphy, the former chair of the Retired Teachers Chapter, recalled his first meeting with Ron, then a district representative, when Murphy was a new chapter leader. “I was frustrated trying to get information from the central Department of Education until I spoke with Ron,” he said. “He welcomed my inquiry and stayed with me until I got all I needed for my school.”
Murphy said that he and Ron developed a friendship that deepened over the years as Murphy went on to serve in the UFT’s Political Department. “We worked closely together on a host of policy and program priorities,” he said. “Ron offered good and wise advice to UFT leaders and rank-and-file members alike.”
For John Soldini, a former vice president for academic high schools, Ron’s signature virtues were his creativity, diligence and aplomb in the face of stressful situations. “No matter how bad things were, he always maintained his cool,” said Soldini. “Ron always had that same composure, whether things were going well or not. He was able to transform anything meant to hurt union members into something positive.”
Ron met his wife, Frieda, on the 1968 picket line at PS 10, and they were married within a year. When she later became the chapter leader at Brooklyn’s Edward R. Murrow HS, she said she followed his advice on leadership: “Think before you speak — you can’t take words back!”
Frieda Jones said that Ron loved kindergarten, his members and the union. “He was the one everyone went to when there was a disagreement,” she said. “He was like a therapist at the union.”
Karen Alford, the current vice president for elementary schools, said, “I stand on the shoulders of my predecessors, including Ron Jones.” Alford recalled Ron visiting her school to meet with the members when she was the chapter leader of PS 156 in Brooklyn. “We were so excited that the vice president was coming to see our school, spend time with us, and share UFT happenings, policy and perspectives,” she said. “He loved this union, he helped build this union, and he especially loved elementary schools.”
Ron received the union’s Jules Kolodny Award in 1991 and its highest honor, the Charles Cogen Award, in 2004, the year of his retirement. He advocated for education to be sensitive to all cultures and was instrumental in founding the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance.
Ron was educated in New York City public schools (as were his children) and graduated from John Jay HS in Brooklyn. He earned his undergraduate degree in history and a master’s degree in early childhood and elementary education at Long Island University in Brooklyn.
Ron was an avid reader all his life, and he loved poker — he belonged to a group that met monthly. Travel was another passion, and he and Frieda enjoyed exploring the world, from Antarctica to Europe.
In addition to his wife, Ron is survived by his sons Christopher and Ronald; his daughter-in-law Cristina; and his granddaughter Mara Timia.
Condolences can be sent to:
Frieda Jones & Family
2231 Ocean Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11229
A role model for role models, Ron rolled with the punches better than anyone. His wife Frieda was equally as active in providing support for our members. My deepest regards to Ron’s friends and family.