Necrology

Ronald Thomas Preston '77

May. 20, 1954-Feb. 16, 2022

Ronald Thomas Preston ’77 died at his home in New York Mills, N.Y., on Feb. 16, 2022. Born on May 20, 1954, in Utica and raised in Whitesboro, N.Y., he came to Hamilton as a junior after transferring from Herkimer County Community College. He graduated from Whitesboro High School. On the Hill, he majored in anthropology and sang in the Hamilton Community Oratorio Society.

After Hamilton, he went to work as a staff counselor in the Central New York Labor Agency in Utica. He moved to Philadelphia and was a building manager for J. Nathan & Co. Then he worked for the Tofts Association, a building management group, as vice president and safety consultant. Eventually, he formed his own business, Ron Preston & Co., providing management and training consulting services. 

In November 1984, in Gladwyne, Pa., he married Katherine Sutton-Smith, who was then pursuing a doctorate in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He also pursued graduate studies at Penn and completed his master’s degree in applied psychology in 1986; she finished her doctorate in 1985. He continued his graduate education, earning a master’s degree in theology in 1992 and studying advanced organization development at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.

In 1985, Ron and Katherine, who by then resided in the Philadelphia suburb of Wayne, formed Kudos Unlimited. In his 25th reunion yearbook, he described the business as a “consulting firm dedicated to the design and development of appreciative organizations, i.e., those capable of sustaining innovation, financial well-being, and market leadership by inspiring the best in human beings.” Ron worked with Fortune 100 companies as an external consultant as well as a project manager, “providing training and consultation services to support greater levels of personal responsibility in employee safety and health.” For a time, he taught at Villanova University.

Occupational safety was a major focus of his work and he assisted over 40 businesses in implementing processes to improve safety in the workplace, ultimately instructing over 25,000 participants through his seminars.

In his later years, Ron returned to his hometown of New York Mills.

Ronald T. Preston was predeceased by his former wife.

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