Ronald McCoy

Ronald McCoy (5 May 1930 – 1 September 2026) was a Malaysian obstetrician and peace activist. He was best known for proposing and helping initiate the idea for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a global coalition of civil society organisations that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for its work to promote the elimination of nuclear weapons through a treaty-based approach.

Early life and education Ronald McCoy was born in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan on 5 May 1930, during the period of British Malaya. He received his secondary education at the Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur.

McCoy later helped establish and lead the Malaysian affiliate of IPPNW, working to raise awareness of the humanitarian and medical consequences of nuclear weapons use within Southeast Asia.

In communications circulated among IPPNW colleagues, McCoy proposed the name “International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons” and its acronym “ICAN”. According to later accounts, his proposal emphasised the need for “lateral thinking” and a humanitarian framing of nuclear disarmament, rather than traditional state-centric arms control approaches.

ICAN was subsequently endorsed within IPPNW and formally launched in 2007, with its international coordination later based in Australia. Over time, the campaign grew into a coalition of hundreds of non-governmental organisations across more than 100 countries.