August 21, 2023

Before becoming known for roles such as William Hill in NBC’s “This Is Us” and Leander ‘Shreve’ Scoville in Apple TV+’s “Truth Be Told,” Ron Cephas Jones ’78 shared his acting talent with our campus community in performances such as Cinderella Ever After.

Hailing locally from Paterson, New Jersey, Jones initially was a music major, but found his true passion as a Ramapo College student. “The spark for my life was set at Ramapo College and it never left me. The theater program there and the people that I was associated with had so much influence on my life from that point on,” Jones shared with the Ramapo College Class of 2017.

Jones enjoyed a celebrated career with a plethora of awards and accolades, including 15 Primetime Emmy nominations and five wins, five Black Reel nominations and two wins, and one Screen Actors Guild award.

Even after leaving Ramapo, Jones never forgot about his alma mater. With the intention of delivering the 2017 Commencement address in person, but ultimately did so via video due to his ongoing battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, from which he died on August 19, 2023 at the youthful age of 66, his poignant words still ring true today.

“To go through four years at an institution, an institution where you have an opportunity to learn so many different things and understand that you’ll always be learning. Never stop learning…And never stop loving. It’s the thing that we need most in this life, is to love…So continue to love, continue to persevere, and continue to know that if you work hard, and keep your nose to the grind, and always dream…dream of the things you want to do. Dream of the sun and the mountains and the rivers and how we’re all connected. Dream that we all feel the same feelings all over the world. Know that you are part of a bigger order.”

Once a Roadrunner, always a Roadrunner.