Ronald Joseph

Joseph was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 9, 1944, and was the elder brother of Vivian Joseph.^[1] He was Jewish until converting to Catholicism before his death.^[2] He worked as a hand surgeon in Arizona and Florida.^[3]

He married St. Johns County Commissioner Krista Keating in 1993 and they had one daughter.^[2] He lived in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.^[4]

Joseph was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2023.^[4] He died on January 20, 2026, at the age of 81.^[2]

The skating pair of Vivian and Ron Joseph began competing together by the late 1950s and became the U.S. national junior champions in 1961. They won the senior bronze medal in 1962 and silver the following year. They were assigned to the 1963 North American Championships, where they took the bronze medal, and to the 1963 World Championships, where they placed eighth.

The Josephs were selected to represent the United States at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck and initially finished fourth. A few years later, the silver medalists, Marika Kilius / Hans-Jürgen Bäumler of Germany, were disqualified after they were accused of signing a pro contract before the Olympics. The original bronze medalists, Debbi Wilkes / Guy Revell of Canada, were elevated to silver and the Joseph siblings to bronze. When the German pair was reinstated in 1987, the IOC decided the Germans and Canadians were both silver medalists and the Americans remained bronze medalists.^[5] The IOC officially updated the results in November 2014.^[6][7]

Vivian and Ron won the national senior title in 1965. They then took gold at the 1965 North American Championships and silver at the 1965 World Championships before retiring from competition. They were coached by Peter Dunfield.^[5]

(Pairs with Vivian Joseph)

• List of select Jewish figure skaters