Marvin Ronning

Marvin Ronning (December 18, 1961 – November 7, 2022) was a community advocate and the director of the Rhode Island Free Clinic (RIFC).

Advocacy Education Ronning was a guest lecturer and mentor at several universities. He served as an advisor to students at Brown University School of Public Health and many other community organizations.

Ronning was on the board of, and frequently donated to, the youth arts program, New Urban Arts. He was the board chair of The Learning Community school in Central Falls. He was a supporter of the nonprofit, Big Picture Learning, which works to increase equity and innovation in public education.

Environment Before joining the Rhode Island Free Clinic, Ronning worked as the director of project planning and administration at Save the Bay. He helped make local waterfronts and environmental programming more accessible to urban communities in Rhode Island through his contributions to the construction of the Bay Center on Fields Point.

For twelve years, Ronning was a senior administrator at the RIFC. Ronning transformed RIFC into a training site for potential health care professionals, created a network of academic partnerships with every higher education institution in the state, Ronning was RIFC’s longest tenured employee.

Death Ronning died suddenly on November 7, 2022. Before he died, he focused greatly on succession planning for the Rhode Island Free Clinic, educating staff on management practices and creating a shared network of files that provided guidance and infrastructure. An endowed fund to honor his legacy was created through the Rhode Island Foundation.