Ronald “Ron” Stern, originally called Rudolf Stern, was born Oct. 27, 1927 in Berlin, Germany, to Ernst and Margarete Stern, joining older sister Gabriele. In 1933 the family fled to London, as Germany was becoming unsafe for Jews.

Ron and Gabriele initially attended Golder’s Hill School in the Hampstead Garden Suburb of London. Later, Ron attended Whittinghame College, a Jewish boarding school in Brighton, and then St. Paul’s School, which had been relocated from London to Berkshire during the war years.

Upon graduation from St. Paul’s, Ron joined the RAF and served for two years as an airman, spending most of his service stationed at the Kenninghall Heath V.H.F. Fixer Station in Norfolk.

Despite being a British subject, Ron’s career aspirations to become a pilot in England were limited, owing to his German birth, so he emigrated to the U.S. in the late 1940s, arriving in Los Angeles on a sun-soaked April day, still wearing his British wool jacket and trousers.

His host family immediately took him to Sears to buy clothes that were more suitable for the mild California climate, including his first t-shirt.

While working on his American pilot’s licenses and toward becoming a U.S. citizen, Ron held many odd jobs, including working in warehouses in the garment industry, as an electrician’s assistant in Hollywood, a taxi driver in Los Angeles, a licensed Jaguar mechanic in Beverly Hills, and he even delivered singing telegrams.

After becoming a citizen, Ron worked for the L.A. County Air Pollution Control District where he addressed complaints about polluters ranging from cars to factories.

Ron also volunteered as a pilot with the Civil Air Patrol and performed as a stage actor at the Coronet and Player’s Ring Theaters in Los Angeles in the 1950s.

In the 1960s, Ron flew for a number of smaller supplemental airlines, including Admiral Airlines, Mercer Airlines, and Saturn Airways, the latter of which took him to Berlin for an initial period of six weeks that stretched into 18 months and led to him meeting and marrying a local girl.

Ron moved back to Los Angeles, accompanied by his bride Barbara, in February 1965. Their first full day in Hollywood was another beautiful Southern California day that was almost the exact opposite of the bitter cold they had left behind in Berlin.

Ron’s aviation career briefly took them to New Jersey, but sunny California soon beckoned them back. By fall of 1966, Ron had landed a job with Aero Spacelines in Santa Barbara, where he piloted the various Guppy Aircraft, which played a crucial role in NASA’s race to the moon.

When the company shut down its operations locally, Ron was given the opportunity to relocate, but chose instead to stay in Santa Barbara, which he was able to call home for nearly 60 years.

The late 1960s and early 1970s were a challenging time for pilots as the aviation industry experienced significant changes, so Ron became a dispatcher for the California Highway Patrol. It was during this time that his daughter Roxanna was born.

In the early 1970s, Ron again found work flying cargo, but was based out of Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. He later flew for Pacific Alaska Airlines which supported the construction of the Alaska Pipeline and was based out of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Wanting to stay closer to his family, which included his wife, daughter, and mother-in-law, Ron shifted careers and became a Realtor, working for the local firm of MacElhenny, Levy, and Co.

In 1980 Ron made the move back to civil service and landed a job with the county of Santa Barbara Real Property Division, where he worked as a right-of-way agent.

This position allowed him to use his writing skills to draft leases for the county and to incorporate his aviation knowledge to support administering three local airports that were managed by the county, namely Santa Ynez, Lompoc, and Santa Maria.

A lifelong learner, Ron earned his associate of science in real estate degree from Santa Barbara City College in the early 1980s, which helped him in his county career. He was very proud to have facilitated the administrative transfer of the Lompoc Airport from the county of Santa Barbara to the city of Lompoc, prior to his retirement in 1992.

In the 1980s, Ron remained active in aviation by working as a flight instructor for the UCSB Flying Club, and by joining the California State Military Reserve, which was a volunteer branch of the California National Guard.

During his decade of service with the CSMR, Ron attained the rank of major prior to reaching mandatory retirement age and being honorably discharged in 1996.

Ron enjoyed an active retirement, taking several trips back to England for school reunions and to visit family. He volunteered for Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic; was active on the Board of the Masonic Lodge, which he had initially joined upon his arrival in Santa Barbara 30 years prior; and regularly worked out at Gold’s Gym or rode his bicycle to Goleta Beach.

He nurtured his love of performing arts by singing with the Santa Barbara Oratorio Chorale, later called the Master Chorale, until he was nearly 90 years old.

Ron was very social and was a member of several local organizations including Al’s Squadron, the Retired Employees of Santa Barbara County, and German Club of Santa Barbara, of which his wife Barbara was a long-time board member.

Ron and Barbara also enjoyed traveling together to places far and wide, including Germany, England, Poland, China, New Zealand, and Washington, D.C., but also to destinations closer to home such as Monterey, Cambria, as well as day trips to Solvang and Carpinteria. 

Ron and Barbara became grandparents in 2007 and Ron again became a grandfather in 2010. He enjoyed watching his granddaughters grow up and seeing them sing and dance at recitals and at German Club and Fiesta events. He also got to attend preschool, elementary school, and junior high graduations.

After Barbara’s death in 2008 Ron learned about the Jewish Federation of Santa Barbara, where he began regularly attending Tuesday Schmooze Room and the monthly Holocaust Survivors Group meetings.

He also became one of the federation’s regular presenters to local student groups who visited the Portraits of Survival exhibit, sharing his story of a life interrupted by terrible political forces, hoping that telling the next generation would help ensure that those atrocities would never be repeated.

Ron continued to travel locally and internationally, often visiting friends in Los Angeles, attending airport festivals from Santa Ynez to Camarillo and everywhere in between, or attending school reunions, family weddings, and milestone birthdays in England, as well as visiting family in Germany.

His final trip overseas was to Berlin, Germany, in 2018 to witness the installation of “Stolpersteine” at his childhood home. Stolpersteine are brass markers embedded in the sidewalk in front of a Jewish family’s last home of choice before having been forcibly removed.

There are thousands of these all over Germany and Europe. This moment allowed him to finally reclaim that which had been taken from him, his parents, and his sister over 80 years prior.

Old age brought a number of maladies and injuries, but Ron prevailed each time, even coming back from a catastrophic fall in 2017 that initially left him unable to move either of his arms and one of his legs.

Thanks to amazing medical care and the teams at both Cottage Rehab and Sansum Rehab, Ron made an almost full recovery and was able to continue living in his own home for another eight years, with the part-time support of the Home Instead caregiving team, until just six months before his death.

The family is grateful for all the many providers who made it possible for Ron’s final decade to be spent in his home of choice.

Ron ultimately left this world on a warm spring morning on his own terms. He was cherished until the end by his family and friends who visited him often. The family wishes to thank Abundant Care for being there around the clock for Ron in his final months.

Ron is survived by his daughter Roxanna Stern Nocker; son-in-law Nicolas Nocker; granddaughters Maxine and Alexandra Nocker; as well as extended family and friends in England, Germany, France, Israel, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and throughout the U.S.

Those who wish to commemorate Ron’s life may do so by making a donation to either ASAP Cats or the Jewish Federation of Santa Barbara.

A memorial will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 18 at the Santa Barbara Masonic Lodge. All are welcome. RSVPs are kindly requested by emailing RHSMemorial2026@gmail.com.