Hon. John T Ronan, Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court (Ret.), of Bonita Springs, Florida and Salem, Massachusetts passed into God's loving care on March 24, 2022.

He leaves behind the love of his life, wife Marcia, with whom he shared sixty-five years of marriage. He also leaves his sister, Anne Ronan Kane of Weston, and his beloved children: Kathryn Marchand and her husband John, of Concord; James Ronan, and his wife Pamela, of Marblehead; Michael Ronan, and his wife, Elissa of Swampscott; and Marcia Adams, and her husband Bruce, of Dorchester, NH. His oldest son, John H. Ronan of Salem, predeceased him.

He was fond of saying he was a "Great Depression Baby." Born in Salem in 1930, he was the fourth of five children of the late Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice James J. Ronan and wife Marie Tracy Ronan. After graduating from Lawrence Academy, Judge Ronan attended Holy Cross, where he joyfully became a lifetime devotee to the College.

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1954, he served four years as a naval officer, before receiving an honorable discharge with the rank of Lieutenant and entering private practice as a trial attorney. For fifteen years, he maintained a law practice in Salem with his brother James T. Ronan, former US Congressman Michael J. Harrington, and Jacob S Segal. In 1973, Governor Francis Sargent, a Republican, nominated him for a position as an Associate Justice to the Superior Court, even though Ronan had been a life-long Democrat. At his swearing-in ceremony, he told the Governor that he realized the importance of the role to which he had been appointed saying: "I make the only promise that I can: I will try sir, I will try."

For twenty-five years, he presided over numerous high profile and colorful cases, including the trial of organized crime boss Gennaro Angiulo, wiretapping of Whitey Bulger, and the case that helped establish the "Good Faith Exception" to the Fourth Amendment's search warrant requirement. During his time on the bench, Judge Ronan was known to make eloquent speeches to juries, peppering equal parts law, history, and humor. Known as fair, but stern, a defendant once complained to Judge Ronan that he would never live long enough to serve the sentence imposed, to which he was told, "you don't have to – just do the best you can."

He was an adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School where he taught civil procedure for more than twenty years. His handbook on jury instructions was widely used by counsel throughout the Massachusetts trial bar.

Following retirement from the Superior Court, Judge Ronan went into private practice alongside two of sons at Ronan & Holmes. He was also active as an arbitrator and mediator. In 2000, he retired, moved to Bonita Springs, Florida, where he enjoyed the sunshine, pool, and most of all, the company of his wife.

In life he enjoyed few things passionately: his faith in God, his wife, stays on Martha's Vineyard, reading, and especially his ten grandchildren and two great grandchildren, who referred to him, inexplicably and irreverently, as "Bob"; and he loved it.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend the visiting hours on Sunday, March 27, 2022 from 4pm-6pm at the Murphy Funeral Home located at 85 Federal Street, Salem, MA. A funeral mass will be held at St. James Church located at 160 Federal Street, Salem, MA on Monday, March 28, 2022 at 10am. Burial will be at Waterside Cemetery in Marblehead and will be private.