Ron A. Szymanski

Ron A. Szymanski, age 34, of Havre de Grace, MD, passed away on July 26, 2013 at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson, MD. He was born October 31, 1978 in Middlesex, NJ, which is probably the reason orange is one of his favorite colors and Halloween is his children's favorite holiday. Growing up, Ron enjoyed reading and collecting comic books. It seems logical that he enjoyed reading about superheroes since his family considers him to be one. Ron received his Bachelor's Degree in math education from the College of New Jersey in 2000 and always had a gift for computers which led him to accept an opportunity at Fort Monmouth rather than going into teaching. He worked there and then at Aberdeen Proving Ground from the Spring of 2000 until present, almost 13 years. In 2004, Ron Received a Master's Degree in Computer Science from Monmouth University in New Jersey leading to his latest title of Chief Software Architect. In the Summer of 2009, he was a recipient of the Arthur S. Fleming Award in recognition of distinguished performance in the role of technical leader as a Lead Computer Scientist at Fort Monmouth. Ron had proudly been accepted to the PHD program at UMBC to study human/computer interaction, and even with his illness recurrence, had still hoped to attend this coming fall.

Ron met his wife, Amy, on Matchmaker.com in the fall of 2000. Even though they both graduated from the same college they never knew each other until they both signed up for the dating site. They moved to Maryland in August of 2008 and in March of 2009, Ron received his first diagnosis of cancer. He was thoughtful and considerate and always made Amy's birthdays very special. For her 30th, he threw a surprise party at a Philadelphia Phillies game. But more than that, he made every day special even if it was just picking up cupcakes or ordering pizza on a stressful day.

As an adult, Ron enjoyed playing video games and board games. He liked the challenging questions of Trivial Pursuit. Always the first one to have the newest technology, he had an IPhone, IPad and Kindle before the masses even knew such things existed. He was also a NY Mets baseball fan, as well as, a NY Giants football fan.

Ron and Amy were homebodies who enjoyed watching favorite TV shows together rather than going out, but they enjoyed taking trips to Las Vegas almost yearly. It was a special place where they could spend special time together enjoying the shows and dining experiences. Their favorites included Penn and Teller's Magic Show, which they saw 4 or 5 times, the Beatles Cirque de Soleil and Michael Jackson Cirque de Soleil. Ron had a remarkable memory and could remember movie lines even after only seeing a movie once.

After over a year of trying to conceive, and with the help of fertility meds, they were thrilled to be pregnant with twins resulting in the birth of their double blessings and "Little Wonders", Adam and Parker. Ron made every day special for the boys and treasured being able to coach their Little League team for three years, even this past spring when he was undergoing Chemotherapy treatments. He and Amy enjoyed every day good times with them which included making homemade pizza together and playing Monopoly. Dutch Wonderland was one of the special places they went together as a family. Ron enjoyed seeing the boy's happy faces just as much as the boys enjoyed going on the rides. They were thankful to be able to take the boys to Disney World which happened one week after the cancer reoccurred. The memories they made were priceless.

In early June, Ron had become too sick to keep a promise to his boys of taking them to see the new Monsters University movie that was to be released on June 21. Determined to make one more lasting memory for her boys, Amy turned to social media for help. Within 36 hours, Paul Cichocki, a post-production manager from Pixar Animation Studios, hand delivered a newly burned DVD of the week old movie to Ron's hospice room at GIlchrist. For the next two hours, Ron, Amy, Adam and Parker, along with Ron's parents and Amy's mother, watched the movie as a family. When they were finished, Paul, who had traveled cross country to make the delivery, retrieved the movie and left.

Ron dealt with his Cancer Journey with dignity. He never complained or said "Why me?" Instead, he would say "Why not me?" meaning that the horrible disease is something that no one deserved. He was happy to become involved in Relay For Life to fight back against cancer.

The Szymanski Family is very thankful for the overwhelming support and love that has been shown to them by the many "families" they have come to know during Ron's illness which includes APG, Relay For Life, Harford Jewish Center, Meadowvale Elementary School and Bayview Estates.

In addition to his wife and sons, Ron is survived by his parents, Alan and Marilyn Doto Szymanski; and two sisters, all of New Jersey.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to:

American Cancer Society through the Relay For Life team, THE RONCREDIBLES.

Online link: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/THERONCREDIBLES

Mail in donation form link:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TRGiftForm?fr_id=53211&px=13691939

For service inquiries, or to express condolences, please email roncredibleourhero@gmail.com