Ronald John Mccaskill

Born December 20, 1945, to John & Martha Jean McCaskill, RONALD J. MCCASKILL

was a California native, who moved to New York following high school graduation to

join the U. S. Coast Guard. He served honorably as an Aerographers Mate (weatherman)

during the Viet Nam conflict period.

 In 1967, he left the Coast Guard and the east coast for the more auspicious climes of Southern California, where, in Indio, he began a career in law enforcement as a deputy sheriff with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

During his tenure with the Department, he worked the 1969 Coachella Valley UFW

Grape Strike, was promoted to Sergeant, and eventually transferred from the Sheriff’s

desert station to the Sheriff’s Training Academy in Riverside. While working as a

Deputy Sheriff, Ron earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Pepperdine

University and, thereafter, a Master of Business Administration degree from the

University of California, Riverside.

Leaving the Sheriff’s Department in 1984, Ron worked for Northrop-Grumman as an

Accounting Manager for five years before returning to employment with the County of

Riverside – first, as the Law Office Administrator for the Public Defender and then as the

Administrative Manager of the County’s Department of Information Technology.

Ron always said he was “born to retire”, and he finally did just that in 2002, after 30

years’ service with Riverside County. But, not one to rest on his laurels for very long, he

soon began to contribute his time and management talents to the Riverside Area Rape

Crisis Center as an advocate, a member of the Executive Board, and, for a time, as the

Center’s Interim Director. Ron also volunteered with the Mission Inn Foundation as a

docent and conducted engaging tours of Riverside’s iconic and historic Mission Inn

Hotel.

In Loving Memory of

RONALD JOHN McCASKILL

BORN PASSED AWAY

December 20, 1945 September 9, 2023

Santa Monica, California Riverside, California

One of Ron’s passions was travel. With his wife Robyn he traveled the world, visiting six

of the seven continents and spending many months in residence in Strasbourg, France,

and Edinburgh, Scotland, as well as shorter periods in Paris, Richmond (London) –

before Ted Lasso discovered this picturesque town – and Quebec City. 

His final voyage

– a bucket-list item – was a circumnavigation cruise of Australia, ending with a family

Christmas in Kona, Hawaii. It would be less than two months after returning home from

this adventure that he would be diagnosed with the disease that ultimately took his life.

Ron was an accomplished, thoughtful, articulate, and caring man. He loved his family

and cherished his friends. He was proud of his Scottish heritage and looked magnificent

in a kilt! Besides an abiding interest in genealogy, he spent many happy hours waging

computer games/wars, building HO scale model railroad cars, collecting fine art, studying

French, and enjoying a meal and camaraderie at Victoria Club.

Ron is survived by his wife, Robyn Rogers, whom he married 37 years ago in Edinburgh,

Scotland, and by his brother Gary and sister Kim.

He is also survived by his four children – J. Patrick, Donald, Deborah, and Kathleen –

and their mother, Margaret Schwartz. He had six grandchildren – Amber, Dillon,

Duncan, Hunter, Cameron, and Heather. His major complaint was that in recent years

they had all scattered around the country from Washington to Montana to Colorado to

Texas, Virginia, and Georgia.

There will be a Military Honors Ceremony for Ron at the Riverside National Cemetery,

on November 17, 2023, at 2:30 pm, to which all his many friends and colleagues are

invited to attend.

Ronald McCaskill was a remarkable man. He touched our lives with his strength, his

compassion, and his intelligent, intrepid spirit. We were truly blessed to have had a

husband, father, sibling, relative, and friend like him. We will miss him dearly for the rest

of our lives.