SCENES FROM AN INTERVIEW
A Life of Good Living & Giving Gus Mollasis Interviews Harold Ronson
When your initials are HR, as in “home run,” it’s no surprise that as a kid you loved baseball. If you grew up in the borough of Brooklyn, you rooted for “Dem Bums” – the Brooklyn Dodgers – with all your heart, until they broke your heart and left town in 1957. It’s also no surprise that as someone who loves sports, you would also love tennis, even as you approach your ninth decade on the planet, and occasionally find yourself down fortylove in a set-clinching game among pals you’ve played with for years. Yes, between the games of youth and the games of an older age, Harold Ronson has lived a full and interesting life with a zest and appreciation of those who come from the Greatest Generation – a generation whose collective mantra seems to be that no one owes you anything; life is hard, but life is beautiful, and should be lived with gusto. His journey has taken him from his stoop days of Brooklyn listening to stories from his eccentric father, to his latest stop, Longboat Key, where he lives a good and grateful life with his companion Molly. In between Brooklyn and Longboat Key is a life very few have experienced – a life filled trials, success, sadness and joy. Ronson joined the Navy, serving his country most honorably in World War II, and he is one of few remaining who can tell you firsthand about his experience of landing at Iwo Jima. Along the way, he met a girl named Kay, got married, had a family and learned not only how to make a buck, but also how to give away a buck to help others. When we talked at Ronson’s Gulf-view condo, it was easy to envision him at Ebbets Field, and imagine him as a Navy man in the South Pacific, as we took a look at some scenes from an interview of his life. 62
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August 2016