Timothy Dwyer Ronan

And so it goes, Timothy Ronan, a man blessed with a first-rate mind, a man with a career in law-a profession requiring an agile grasp of facts, a reliable recall of covenants and statutes and precedents-passed away October 24, 2025, in memory care after a nine-year battle.
Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Tim attended high school at St. Marks Seminary in Erie Pennsylvania. He was a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984. The arc of his career and achievements in concert with his civic, social and personal life reflect a life lived with drive and purpose. Professionally, his legal expertise included business and contract law, mergers and acquisitions, General Counsel and Partner at Ronan & Tagart, plc. During distinguished years of practice he formed countless businesses and assisted their owners in navigating complex legal situations; he helped many families secure their futures through his comprehensive estate planning knowledge. He was a member of the board (including a chairmanship) for the Tempe Chamber of Commerce; he also served on the board of the charity Every Kid Counts. Tim Ronan was an athlete: he loved sports; he had a passion for rugby and baseball. He enjoyed coaching, particularly high school baseball where he coached at Notre Dame High School and Seton Catholic High School, and where-as pitching coach and with his son as a player-the team went on to win the State Championship in 2006.
There were perhaps two personas to him. Outwardly you'd find him deeply conservative, exacting and direct to the point-the attorney in him. His colleagues recognized that he was an exceptional lawyer; his legal expertise and insightful approach to the law earned him the respect of clients and peers. Those who knew him best, his wife and family, saw his other side, his inner life: his willingness to instruct and mentor, his sense of humor-incorporating silliness in making up words to silly songs; an innate ability to make his children laugh. He kept his word to his family, passed along good, durable fatherly advice to son and daughter: emphasizing the need to demonstrate integrity-particularly when no one is watching; keeping a sense of humor and not taking yourself too seriously; to only worry about the things you can control and leaving the rest to work itself out. He loved his family unconditionally. Together, Tim and Victoria raised two terrific kids. Remarkably, both son and daughter-Caolan and McKenna-studied law and entered the profession as attorneys--and both excelled as athletes in their own right. In short, Tim was a man, a husband to Victoria, his wife, for almost thirty-nine years, a devoted father, a brother, a friend, a colleague, a lawyer, a citizen, a coachand a mentor.
Tim was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) at age fifty-six-right in the middle of the power curve of one's life. Victoria shared that he took the news stoically and without flinching; he received it, accepted it and never complained or talked about it from that point onward. He returned to work, asked his partner to draw up his estate plan. If he was afraid, he never showed it. His love of the game of rugby brings to mind a quote from the novel about that particular sport: "This Sporting Life" by David Storey: "You play hard because it's the only way you know how to live." In Tim's case it's significant because it articulates a belief that physical struggle, bruises and exertion are a kind of truth; it's about a life lived withintegrity on and off the field.
C.S. Lewis's reflections on suffering are worth repeating here: " we should certainly like to know the reason." But: "Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself." The cruel irony of the loss of one's intellect and memory, especially in Tim Ronan's case, is a mystery. According to Lewis, when it comes to free will, you cannot have a real game-unless it can be lost.
His passing is a great blow; Tim will forever be missed, and his memory will remain in the hearts of his family and friends.
Tim is survived by his wife Victoria and his children Caolan and McKenna, his brother Patrick and sisters Kathy, Maureen and Anne. He is preceded in death by parents John and Elizabeth Ronan, and his brother, Kevin.
The Ronan Family will host a Celebration of Life for Timothy on Saturday, December 20, 2025 from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm at the Scottsdale Baseball Stadium 7408 E. Osborn Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85251.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Timothy's name to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration