FMI – The Food Industry Association has announced the death of Ronald Arthur Sarasin, the husband of Leslie Sarasin, the organization’s president and CEO. He died March 27 at age 88.
Following a lengthy career in public service, Mr. Sarasin served as the chief lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association and as president and CEO of the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
He also served as president and CEO of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society from 2000-19 and is credited with establishing a traveling exhibit on the role played by enslaved people in the building of the U.S. Capitol, as well as the initiation of the organization’s civics education program.
Mr. Sarasin attended Center School in Beacon Falls, Connecticut, and graduated from Naugatuck High School in 1952. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1952-56 and held the rank of petty officer, second class. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1960 and a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1963. Admitted to the state bar, he began his law career serving as the town counsel for Beacon Falls from 1963-72 and as assistant professor of law at New Haven College from 1963-66.
Elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1968, Mr. Sarasin became the assistant minority leader in 1970. In 1972, he won the first of three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he represented Connecticut’s fifth district.
He served as a delegate to the Connecticut State Republican conventions in 1968, 1970, 1972 and 1974, and to the Republican National Convention in 1976. In 1978, he secured the Republican nomination for governor of Connecticut.
In addition to his wife of nearly 35 years, immediate survivors include his two sons and his brother and sister. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on May 20 at Gonzaga College High School’s St. Aloysius Church at 19 Eye St. in Washington, D.C.
Expressions of sympathy may be made in to Gonzaga College High School through gonzaga.org or to the U.S. Capitol Historical Society through form-renderer-app.donorperfect.io/give/uschsronsarasin.
