Ron was born and raised in Leigh Lancashire and attended Leigh Grammar School and then studied Zoology and later Pharmacology at Liverpool University. He came to Cardiff for his first job as lecturer in Physiology at Cardiff University in 1973 and retired from the university in 2017 as Emeritus Professor. He established, and was Director of the Common Cold centre at Cardiff University from 1988-2017. Ron was Master of the Company 2012-2013 and received the Royal Charter for the Company during his year as Master after working with Past Master Roisin Pill and others for several years to obtain the Charter. Ron is married to Khawla, who came as a doctor from Iraq to study in the UK in 1976 and spent her career as a lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University teaching courses allied to medicine. Ron and Khawla have two children, Sarah, a barrister for the Welsh Assembly Government, and Sinan a Consultant Chest Physician at Royal Glamorgan Hospital, and they have three grandchildren. Ron was appointed as the first Almoner for the Company in October 2020.