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Ronald R.S. Picerne

(1929-) ~ Inducted 2018

Born in Cranston, Rhode Island in 1929, Ronald R.S. Picerne is the son of Romeo and Rose Picerne. Ron attended Cranston public schools and graduated from Cranston East High School in 1946. As a young boy, Ron was a member of community organizations such as the YMCA and Boy Scouts and played CYO basketball and baseball. After high school, he attended Brown University and received a political science degree in 1950. He then earned a Law Degree from Georgetown University in 1953. In 1979, Ron graduated from business management program at Harvard University Business School. Soon after graduating from law school, Ron joined his father in the family real estate business, Kelly and Picerne, and at the age of thirty-five was named the company's president.
Kelly and Picerne was formed in 1925 by James Kelly and Romeo Picerne. After buying out James Kelly in 1938, the Picernes grew the company from a small single-family brokerage office into one of the largest diversified real estate management and development firms in the country. In the 1960's, under Ron's leadership , the company began to develop a real estate portfolio that included apartment communities, shopping centers and office buildings with an emphasis on building for long-term investment.
In 1981 Ron's son David opened an office in Phoenix, Arizona, that now manages thousands of apartments in five western states. His son Bob opened Picerne's third regional office in Orlando, Florida in 1983 that has holdings in thirteen states.
In 1998, Ron's son, John founded Picerne Military Housing to significantly improve family housing for U.S. service members. Now known as Corvias, this branch of the company has expanded to include student housing. Corvias operates in nine states from coast-to-coast. Today the Picerne companies have more than 20,000 employees, and their portfolio includes more than 80,000 apartment homes, military homes, and student housing units.
Ron has six children by his late wife Jeanne--David, Donna, Bob, Ken, John and Jeanne, and 34 grandchildren (14 of whom are adopted from diverse backgrounds) and 4 great grandchildren. All six of his children are involved in the Picerne Real Estate companies.
Throughout his life Ron has been very involved in his community serving on several boards of directors and in a number of professional organizations.

Within the last twenty years, Ron has become very involved with his family foundation whose primary mission is to help high school graduates earn a degree at a four-year college. The foundation's focus is to identify students who will be the first in their family to attend college. In addition, the Picerne Foundation helps needy students. Initially it accomplished its goals by establishing scholarships for Rhode Islanders at Brown University, Boston College, Georgetown University, and the University of Rhode Island.
Within the last ten years the Picerne family has taken a more active role and is now providing scholarships directly to high school students. The Foundation currently has more than 100 students attending a four-year college of their choice, and is adding 50 new students each year. The overriding mission of the foundation is to encourage the Picerne scholars to give back to their communities however they can and however they wish. Today, Ron with his wife Lisa live in Florida and spend summers in Rhode Island.
Spencer W. Viner, Esq.

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Ronald R.S. Picerne

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