Ronald I. Perkins, former assistant director of the Institute for Chemical Education (ICE), died at age 83 on January 25, 2025, in his native state New Hampshire. Ron was a master teacher in and out of the classroom. Always rigorous and demanding. Always caring and compassionate.  Ron was a chemistry teacher at Greenwich High School in Connecticut for 25 years.  He also taught at Sacred Heart University, UW-Madison, and other places.

In the summer of 1983 Ron joined my group as the first ICE Fellow. His assignment was to help plan and draft summer workshop material for high school chemistry teachers to be offered by the newly founded Institute for Chemical Education. His drafts were scientifically accurate, rigorous, comprehensive, and demanding.   That same year he was the first teacher from Connecticut to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching.  In 1986 Ron received the ACS James B. Conant Award in High School Chemistry Teaching. He is the first and only high school chemistry teacher to be featured on the cover of the Journal of Chemical Education. In 1995 Ron was the first high school teacher to serve as the chair of the ACS Division of Chemical Education.  Volume 5 of Chemical Demonstrations: A Handbook for Teachers of Chemistry, published in 2011, was co-dedicated to Ron and to neurologist and author Oliver Sacks. 

Ron guided students, administrators, teachers, parents, and others to learn chemistry and to enjoy learning. He showed everyone the beauty of our science and cultivated the thrill of discovery.  Ron used demonstrations to display phenomena and to cultivate curiosity. He raised more questions than he answered directly.  Ron challenged everyone to connect classroom science with daily life. Ron Perkins was a teacher. 

Bassam Z. Shakhashiri