By Southwester Staff
On May 7, community members gathered at St. Dominic Catholic Church on E Street SW to honor the life of Ronald R. Collins, an ANC Commissioner and community leader who unexpectedly passed away on March 21, 2025.
A DC native and devoted Catholic, he attended St. Anthony’s High School, even representing his school on the student quiz show It’s Academic, before earning his undergraduate degree from his beloved University of Scranton, graduating summa cum laude. He later obtained his Juris Doctor from Penn State Dickinson Law.
Collins was deeply involved in local politics, holding leadership roles in the Ward 2 Democrats and continuing his commitment even after redistricting moved him to Ward 6. From 2006 to 2018, he represented Ward 6 on the DC Democratic State Committee, later chairing the Constitution and By-Laws Committee. Collins also spent six years as an ANC 6D Commissioner, where he contributed as treasurer.
His distinguished government career spanned several administrations. He began as legal counsel and later advanced to Chief of Staff for Ward 7 Councilmember H. R. Crawford from 1980 to 1992. During the Sharon Pratt administration, he took on the roles of legal counsel and Chief of Staff to Department of Human Services Director Vincent Gray. From 2003 to 2007, Mayor Anthony Williams appointed him Director of the DC Office of Boards and Commissions. He later worked as Deputy Secretary to the DC City Council under Chairman Vincent Gray (2007–2011), and in 2011 was again named Director of the Office of Boards and Commissions by Mayor Gray. Collins concluded his career in government in 2012.
Collins is survived by his beloved mother, Shirley Hughes Brown; bonus mom, Yvonne Collins (widow of Ronald C. Collins); his brother, Eric Brown; his sister, Rhonda Dorsey (Terry); nieces, Jessica Jenkins, Jenine Brown, and Antoinette Bethea; nephew, Michael Brown; several cherished grandnieces and grandnephews; and a host of treasured friends.
