Ronald Wiginton, professor of English, dies, leaves legacy on Elmhurst University community

“This lede is shit,” Ronald Wiginton, professor of English, said to Syeda Sameeha when she walked into Wiginton’s office as a “shy freshman” with her article in hand. 

Sameeha, The Leader’s editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2019, learned throughout the three years she spent with Wiginton that he is “all bark, but no bite” and that he deeply cared about his students.

Wiginton died on Aug. 9, 2023. He served as the faculty advisor for The Leader between 1997 and 2020 and Middlewestern Voice between 2021 and 2023. 

He will be greatly missed by many faculty, staff, and students. 

Sameeha appreciated Wiginton for always fighting for her and supporting all his students.

“Dr. Ron was not only an amazing teacher, inspiring journalist, and the best mentor, but he was also my friend,” Sameeha said. “He made me who I am today. I can still picture him walking around campus with his baseball cap or beanie if it was cold out, a tote bag, and one arm taking long puffs of his cigarette.”

Sameeha continued, “I will forever be indebted to him for standing by me when things got tough as Editor-in-Chief, especially when we were both subject to a lawsuit on campus. I was 19, and I thought my life was over, but Dr. Ron was there ready to fight for me. That’s the type of person he was. It is definitely an end of an era with Dr. Ron’s depart from this world. But I know each of us, his students, his Leader crew, and everyone who was impacted by him, will forever hold a piece of him in their hearts. Farewell, Dr. Ron.” 

Victoria Martin, The Leader’s news editor between 2016 and 2018, expressed that although Wiginton was hard on The Leader staff when it came to “spelling errors, our inability to finish a production weekend before the early hours of Monday morning, or our everyday shenanigans,” he was hard on them because he cared and wanted the staff to be the best they could.

Martin believes she is all the better for Wiginton’s support.

“He supported us in ways I don’t think we ever really thanked him for,” Martin said. “He was so much more than a faculty advisor to the editorial staff. He will be greatly missed, and the world feels a little emptier knowing he isn’t in it.”

Roxee Timan, The Leader’s multimedia and managing editor from 2016 to 2018, and Cole Sheeks, The Leader’s sports editor in 2018, both had a close mentorship and friendship with Wiginton. 

Timan appreciates Wiginton for pushing her as a writer, being a role model, and living life to the fullest. 

“Ron has been a constant in Cole and I’s lives even five years after graduating,” Timan said. “I can’t thank him enough for all of the late nights, stretching us as writers, and introducing me to my best friend. He once said “have more fun today than you did yesterday” and he did that til the very end. No one else could tell me, “you write like shit” and still be one of the people I look up to most.”

Sheeks had a similar experience with Wiginton, attributing fond memories, close friendship, and inspiration to him. 

“Ron will be missed terribly,” Sheeks expressed. “His mentorship and friendship meant the world to me. He played a massive role in the person I have become. Not only do I owe him for my career, but I owe him for so many of my closest friends and most cherished memories. I wish he was here to proofread this for me right now because I just know he’d have something quippy to say about it. He was inspiring, and he always knew how to add color to a conversation. He was a great friend and the best teacher I ever had.”

Gianna Montesano, The Leader’s editor-in-chief for the 2021 to 2022 school year, admires Wiginton for shaping her and many other students into the writers they are today. 

“During my time as a student, Ron was one of the first people who viewed and treated me as a journalist,” Montesano said. “Without his guidance, passion, and talent The Leader, or the remarkable writing talent he molded out of every student that walked through his office door, wouldn’t exist.”

Not only did many former EU students express feeling mentored and supported by Wiginton, but several EU faculty and professors felt deeply impacted by Wiginton as well. 

Eric Lutz, faculty adviser to The Leader and editor-in-chief for the 2009 to 2010 school year, expressed the impact Wiginton had on the EU community.

“Ron was synonymous with the Leader, and had an outsize impact on the lives and careers of so many students who passed through it,” Lutz said. “This is a tremendous loss for the college, the Leader, and the decades of students he taught and mentored.”

Ann Frank Wake, professor of English, shared a similar sentiment.

“Honestly, the first thought I had when I heard about the unusual circumstances surrounding Ron’s passing was that he would be ticked that he couldn’t write that story!” Wake said. “I imagined the ‘stream of consciousness’ technique leading up to final events, with the ‘unknown’ ending that cliffhangs us into the future.”

She continued, “It hit me hard that Ron would not be here to teach and influence future writers.  He loved writers and writing, but he revered free speech and an independent Press.” 

Janice Lively, professor of English, appreciated the way Wiginton took his dreams and made them a reality.

“Ron was a character,” Lively said. “He was funny, he had a good heart. The thing I like most about Ron, he was a dreamer, but he didn’t just dream —  he worked really hard at what he did, and he was good at that.”

Lively mentioned that Wiginton envisioned the creative writing and digital media programs and helped bring them to EU.

“He wouldn’t take no,” Lively said. “He would keep pushing until he found a way to get it.”