Ron Gantar

Ron and Mary Gantar at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

When Ron left GHS he had in mind to become an Architect so he went to Kent State University with that in mind.  His roommates were GHS classmates Ed Raney and Dick Dillon.

One year into the Architecture program Ron realized perhaps it was not the field he would be happy with so he changed his major to Science and graduated with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Math and Physics.  “Thank you Mr. Cramer,” he says.

During the next four years Ron followed in Cramer’s footsteps teaching Chemistry and Physics in Bay Village Ohio, a west-side suburb of Cleveland.  

Then Ron heard of an opening at Liberty High School.  It was back home.  He quickly accepted and moved back.

This turned out to be a very  good choice as it was at Liberty that Ron met and later married his wife Mary of 43 years.  Mary was a graduate of Cardinal Mooney ’61 and YSU ’65.  The couple was married in ’67,

A year later Ron was offered and accepted a position as an “Electo Chemical Engineer” at Clevite Corp in Cleveland. Within a year Clevite transferred Ron to Southern Ohio to take charge of a branch plating plant.

A few years later Ron accepted a position at Motorola Simiconductor in Phoenixs AZ in their plating operation department.  Ron stayed with Motorola for 25 years.  The first 3 years were in the Plating operation.  Then Motorola moved him into project engineering management and finally to marketing management. 

Ron spent 12 years as the Marketing Manager of Analog Custom Automotive Integrated Circuits.  “We helped the auto industry design the firs ignition and engine control system,” Ron explains.

During this time Ron did a lot of traveling for Motorola, both Domestically and internationally   He also enrolled in the Master’s program at Arizona State University and earned a Masters in Business Administration.

In 1998 Ron left Motorola to accept a position as plant manager for a maker of semiconductor wafer and a die supplier in the Los Angeles area. 

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His experience in California lasted two years.  Then Ron was then asked to join a former college friend who had left Motorola to form his own company. This company developed liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) imagers for use in rear projection TV’s.  His new job brought the Gantar’s back to Phoenix and put him on the road traveling quite a bit to the Far East.

“After 3 years of traveling on 18 hour plane rides, I decided to retire.” Ron says.

The Gantar’s have two children, Mathew who is single and Erica who has given them two grandsons age 9 and 13. They all live in the Phoenix area.

“We have been in the Phoenix area now for 27 years,” Ron says.  “We call it home.”

I still think back on our chess evenings with you, Ron Teeter, Wolf,  Derrill,  Ray Jones, and Max Coppinger,” Ron adds.  “We sure had some good times then.”