Ronald H. Warner

Ronald H. Warner, longtime Phoenix businessman, philanthropist and civic leader, and a beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather, passed away peacefully June 8, 2011. Ron was born March 21, 1927, in Chicago to Thelma and Harold Joyce Warner.

He served in the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged in August 1944. Ron subsequently attended Tulane University and the University of Oklahoma. At OU, he met and married Carolyn Rexroat. The Warners moved to Phoenix in March 1953 and opened a small furniture store. Through Ron’s entrepreneurial spirit and natural salesmanship, the venture grew into one of the Southwest’s preeminent interior design firms, Warner’s Furniture and Interiors.

Ron Warner’s life was devoted to his community, his church and his family. He chaired or served on the boards of numerous civic and charitable organizations, including the YMCA, Arizona Boys Ranch, Samaritan Health Services (now Banner Health Systems), Arizona Commission on the Arts, Phoenix 40, Salvation Army, NAACP and the Phoenix Executive Club. A faithful and active lay leader, he served as chairman of the board of the First United Methodist Church and the School of Theology in Claremont, Calif. Active in political as well as civic affairs, he was a founder of the Nucleus Club, and was a Democratic national committeeman.