Ronald Glickman

Ronald Glickman, loving husband, father, and attorney who devoted his life to public service, passed away peacefully on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, surrounded by his three sons and Sandra Glickman, the love of his life. He was 94.

Ronald, known as Rachmeil to his Yiddish-speaking family, was the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants who moved to this country four years apart. Father Max arrived in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1926 and worked making shoes for four years until he could afford to bring over his wife, Lillie, and their son Henry. Ronald was born on May 14, 1932.

Despite moving to the Bronx when he was 7, he cultivated a lifelong hatred of the Yankees and love of the baseball Giants, which he maintained after they moved to San Francisco in 1958. He attended James Monroe High School and then became the first member of his family to go to university, graduating from City College of New York in 1953.

That year, he joined the Army and became a telecommunications expert. On June 20, 1954, while still enlisted, he married Sandra Yackira, and the two promptly moved to Fort McCoy, near Sparta and Tomah, Wis., and then Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

With the benefits of the GI Bill, he attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1958, in the same class with consumer advocate Ralph Nader, among other famous classmates.

Harvard Law was a rich but not the only source of multiple, decades-long friendships for Sandy and Ron, including Barbara and Alan Boroff, Eileen and Ed Flax, Marilyn and Herb Henschel, Judy and Herb Paul, Sandie and Marv Salat, and Iris and Marty Schaum, along with many of Sandy’s friends from decades of teaching reading in the Half Hollow Hills school district.

Ron and Sandy were living in Queens, N.Y., when they started their family. They moved to Wyandanch in Suffolk County, N.Y., in 1965 and to Melville, N.Y., where they raised their sons, Cliff, Larry and Mark.

After working in private practice for several years, Ron began a decades-long career in public service. In 1967, he was elected the first ever Democratic Receiver of Taxes in the Long Island Town of Babylon. After an unsuccessful campaign for the Suffolk County Legislature, he became the Huntington Town Attorney in 1976. At the end of 1979, he joined the New York State Attorney General’s office, where he remained until his retirement in 1995. A proud New Deal baby, he instilled Democratic values in his children and grandchildren.

His life was always much more than his career. He took great joy in the accomplishments of his children and grandchildren. To the consternation of loved ones, he frequently indulged his hobby of “figuring out” the endings to movies he’d already seen, creating the need for if not coining the term spoiler alert.

He lived a rich life in retirement. He served on the Half Hollow Hills Community Library Board and taught business law and introduction to law classes at Suffolk County Community College. He organized many events for the North Shore Civil War Roundtable, which invited speakers, went on trips, and talked about books related to the Civil War.

He indulged his lifelong love of reading, including an impressive collection of books on Abraham Lincoln. He and Sandy traveled throughout the world and took many trips to see their children and grandchildren. For his 80th birthday, he took his extended family on a bus tour of the Mountain West.

His extraordinary kindness, wit, and bottomless knowledge were features of every conversation he had, through his very last days.

In addition to his wife, Sandra, Ronald is survived by three sons, Clifford (Caroline), Lawrence (Jill Frank), and Mark, five grandchildren (Laura, Ellen, Alexander, Abigail, and Benjamin), and one great granddaughter (Carolyn).

The family wishes to thank several caregivers for Ron and Sandy: Home Instead of Merrick, N.Y., Bridges Cornell Heights in Ithaca, N.Y., and Hospicare & Palliative Care Services in Ithaca. The family is especially grateful to Rhode Daricis, Nicole Shaw, and Rabina Shaffie for their love and dedication.

Funeral services and burial will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve, 293 Irish Hill Rd. in Newfield, N.Y. Dress comfortably for an outdoor event. The family is sitting shiva on Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 5:30-8 p.m. at 504 N. Aurora St. in Ithaca.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations from those who wish to do so to the public library of their choice.