Ron Fox and Joan Fox

Ron and Joan were married on June 25, 1961. Joan taught 5^th grade in Lynn while Ron completed Harvard Law School. While Ron was stationed in the US Army JAG, Joan worked in the Hispanic and Indian communities around Albuquerque as a social worker for the New Mexico Department of Social Welfare. Their daughter, Lesley, was born there. They moved back to Massachusetts in 1967. Ron began to work for a law firm. Their son, Steve, was born the next year. They joined a local temple. In 1969, Ron worked on the successful campaign for the first Jewish selectmen ever to be elected in the town of Marblehead. In the same year, Joan began to work in the Brickyard area of Lynn as a community organizer. In 1969 Ron coordinated the Lynn area for the successful election of Michael Harrington to Congress

By 1971 they had become involved in various situations where organizations appeared not to be acting in the best interests of their constituents: the public schools were leaving children behind so Joan developed an alternative residence and high school for boys in Lynn and Ron represented a student-focused teacher not rehired by the Lynn school system; the housing authority was not maintaining public housing, so Ron represented tenants asking that the state take over the authority; the US Government was pursuing an unjustified war in Viet Nam so they worked in anti-war efforts; the temple seemed not to be interested in considering new ways to practice Judaism so Ron and Joan, together with six other families each with two children aged between 2 to 6, formed the Alternative Religious Community of Marblehead to celebrate Jewish holidays; the legal system was not delivering legal services to low and middle income individuals and groups that worked with them so Ron co-founded a law firm and designed programs for bar associations to expand access to the legal system and lawyers.

Since 1971, they have continued to work personally and consult professionally with individuals and organizations helping them design, plan and implement activities or projects aimed at securing an individual or group objective. Joan’s efforts have been in the area of mental health and women’s issues, Ron’s focus has been the legal community (law firms, lawyers, law schools and bar associations) with Ron having devoted the last 23 years to advising dissatisfied lawyers about how to locate positions consistent with their professional values and personal beliefs.  Ron has a particular interest in helping Jewish lawyers integrate their Jewish values into their search for meaningful work.