Born in New York, Ron Arons was reared a goodie-two-shoes. Aside from four moving violations (including a “California” roll through a stop sign, doing 40 MPH in a 30 MPH zone, and driving with his brights on), Arons has never been afoul of the law.

Ron became interested in understanding his roots after he lost both his parents to cancer 16-18 years ago. In the process of researching family history, he was surprised to learn that his great-grandfather had done time in Sing Sing Prison.   Out of his research came Ron’s book, The Jews of Sing Sing.

In addition to this discovery, he has traced his roots to England, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.

In 2005 Ron won a Hackman Research Residency Award from the New York State Archives to continue his research of New York Jewish criminals.

In January, 2008, Ron appeared on the PBS television series, The Jewish Americans, as the acknowledged expert on Jewish criminals of New York’s Lower East Side.

 Arons tours the country giving educational and entertaining presentations on Jewish criminals and Jewish genealogy. Ron earned a B.S. in Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Saturday 5:00 p.m.  SA-071.  Researching Criminal Relatives.   A discussion of the records available to understand the "black sheep" in your family and where to find them.  [All]

 

Ron Arons          Oakland, California
510.530.3975 (phone)   reaxprs@ix.netcom.com