Ron Lally

John Ronald Lally, known as Ron, passed away peacefully at the age of 80 on January 22, 2020 while in Hawaii on a professional trip consulting with a local early child care initiative. Ron's life's work was to make the world a better place for babies. Despite challenges with his physical health over the past several years, his heart, mind and soul were engaged in this mission until his unexpected passing in a place he loved. Ron leaves behind many people whose lives were deeply touched and transformed by their relationship with him. He is survived by his wife, Lauren Houde; his older daughter Barbara Lally, her partner Perry Stephens, and their children Jolene and Ella Lally-Stephens; his younger daughter Meg Lally, her husband Tim Schwarz, and their baby due in early March; his stepson Alan Kronstadt; his previous wife, Meg's mother, Diana Kronstadt; his first wife, Barbara's mother, Clytee Mills; his sister, Gayle Simpson and her children; as well as his extended loving family. Ron's enormous community of family, friends, and dear colleagues from all around the globe are too numerous to mention. Ron's career in early childhood development spanned fifty years and was his driving force and a source of deeply satisfying work and friendships. Widely considered a pioneer in the field of infant/toddler development and care, Ron earned his doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Florida in 1968. In Florida, he directed one of the first home visiting programs for infants in the United States. After earning a post-doctoral certificate for infant testing from London's Child Development Research Centre, Ron became a professor and department chair at Syracuse University. While at Syracuse, he became a founding board member of Zero To Three, a leading national resource on the first three years of life that works to strengthen the critical roles of professionals, policymakers, and parents in giving all children the best possible start in life. In the late 1970s, Ron came west to be closer to his young daughter and to join the organization that would become WestEd. He built and became the director of the Center for Child and Family Studies, where he collaboratively developed the Program for Infant and Toddler Care, the major provider in California for infant/toddler care professional learning materials. At the time of his passing, Ron had been serving as co-director of the Center with his longtime friend and colleague Peter Mangione. Ron has a legacy of print and video resources used nationally and internationally that provide best practices on infant/toddler care, development, and public policy. He consulted and presented internationally. Ron's philosophy was to share his knowledge widely and freely for the benefit of babies. Ron recognized the importance of having public policy that reflects what we know about young children's developmental needs. In 2013, he issued a call to action in his book For Our Babies: Ending the Invisible Neglect of America's Infants and its national advocacy campaign under the same title. While Ron was intensely committed to his work, he always knew how to live well and have a great time along the way. Ron loved to swim, waterski, play tennis, solve puzzles, appreciate a glass of chardonnay, take long trips to Hawaii, snorkel with sea turtles, play cards, host elaborate Christmas celebrations for his family, watch his daughters and granddaughters play sports, take friends out for dinner, enjoy a night at the ballet, get worked up watching the Syracuse Orange/49ers/Warriors, sing in the car, appreciate soulful music, dance and laugh, with his real, boisterous, full-body laughter. The heart of Ron's legacy is in the way he loved. His warmth, caring, and openness could be felt by anyone in his presence. It is hard to imagine that our champion for babies, mentor, supporter, colleague, friend, loving husband, father, grandfather, and brother is no longer with us. We will carry him forward in the way we treat each other, in our undying passion for our work, and in the way we honor and care for our children. He lives on in our hearts. In lieu of flowers, donations in Ron's name to one of the following organizations would be deeply appreciated: -For Our Babies, www.forourbabies.org/get-involved/ -Zero to Three, www.zerotothree.org/donate -Glide Programs www.glide.org/donate/ -Your favorite organization that serves infants and toddlers in low income communities. A memorial service for Ron will be held on Saturday, February 15 at 1:00 pm at Cavallo Point Lodge, Callippe Room, 601 Murray Circle, Sausalito.