Ronald Kent Blake, an exceptionally driven and kind-hearted man of adventure whose zest for life inspired those around him, died at a memory care facility in Phoenix, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease on January 2, 2026, surrounded by his family. He was 76.

Ron was born in Phoenix, Arizona, the son of Carol and Kent Blake. He was the oldest of their 6 children. Though his mother often joked that he would have been happy to be an only child, Ron was an admired big brother to his siblings – Michael, Tracy, Melinda, Amy, and Jeni.

An intense focus on sports and hobbies was consistent throughout Ron’s life. As a child, Ron raced his go-kart in the backyard until the neighbors finally called the police. That early love of speed and adventure stuck with Ron. Racing became an enduring passion, one of many he enjoyed sharing with family and friends.

As a young teenager, Ron rode his bike to Encanto Park to take golf lessons and practiced so frequently that he burnt himself out on golf before the season began. He never actually played on the high school team.

Ron and Marcia began dating as high school seniors, though their story started earlier when Marcia was dating one of Ron’s friends who couldn’t drive and often relied on Ron for rides to see her. They were classmates as well, though Marcia was initially not very impressed by Ron’s lackluster interest in high school or by the time he notoriously fell asleep during a trigonometry test.

Marcia was warmly welcomed into Ron’s family and enthusiastic about the many fun activities they enjoyed. Her willingness to jump in, and at times bring along her own younger sisters who were close in age to Ron’s sisters, played a pivotal role in helping Ron better appreciate and spend more time with his own family.

While Ron would’ve preferred to be a race car driver after high school, he instead attended Arizona State University (ASU) to study mechanical engineering so he could at least learn to build race cars. Ron and Marcia were married in January 1970, over the semester break of their junior year at ASU.

Ron first raced go-karts in front of the Arizona State Fairgrounds grandstand. As a newly married couple still in college, Ron and Marcia had no budget for spare parts. Ron would be done racing for the day if he broke down or crashed during a race.

While Ron was working on his degree, the availability of engineering jobs unexpectedly decreased and so he decided to go to ASU law school, following in his father’s footsteps to become an attorney – much to his family’s surprise.

Knowing he would not be happy sacrificing work-life balance at a high-profile law firm, Ron chose a different path. He spent four years working for Jones, Hunter & Lerch before starting his own small practice, Johnson & Blake, in 1979. He formed Blake & Pulsifer in 2005, where he finished his career as part of a close-knit group of colleagues he greatly respected.

Ron became a father with the birth of Julie in 1976 and again when Karen was born in 1980. The girls have fond memories of snuggling up with their dad for story time, Ron often reading the original Grimm’s fairy tales which could be so graphic that Karen would sometimes try to fall asleep before the gory endings, prompting Ron to carry her to bed. In the late 1980s, go-karts returned to Ron’s life as a family activity, this time with Julie and Karen racing alongside him. The girls didn’t have the same determination and focus to excel as Ron, but they appreciated sharing the fun times together and were proud of their father’s accomplishments on the racetrack.

Ron’s hobbies and pursuits throughout his life were remarkably diverse. When something captured his interest, he dove in completely, teaching himself whatever he needed to know. An avid outdoor adventurer, Ron excelled at many types of hobbies – from thrill-seeking activities like windsurfing, surfing, mountain biking, snow skiing, and wakeboarding; to active sports such as tennis, road biking, golf, and hiking; to quieter pleasures like birding and fishing; and creative outlets including photography, welding, and playing guitar.

The pinnacle of Ron’s racing career came when he transitioned to the Sports Car Club of America racing circuit in 1995 and spent more than 6 years racing full-size spec cars on the Firebird and Phoenix International Raceway tracks. His curiosity even extended to architecture - Ron designed both their Ahwatukee and Costa Rica homes, purchasing design software and visiting countless model homes to better understand room sizes and proportions.

Family vacations often revolved around Ron’s outdoor passions, with boating on Lake Powell becoming an especially meaningful and enduring part of Blake family life. Around the campfire, Ron shared his love of music by playing his favorite folk and rock songs on the guitar as his friends and family sang along. Those simple moments grew into a lasting family legacy – shaping Karen’s lifelong love of music and playing instruments and even leading Julie to meet her future husband, Matt, years later on a Lake Powell houseboat trip, followed by many summers spent camping at the lake with their own children.

Lake Powell vacations were also the gateway to another significant passion in Ron’s life – windsurfing. When two fellow houseboat owners purchased a windsurfer as a fun “toy” from Price Club, few could’ve imagined that Ron would embrace the sport so fully and bring Marcia along on the adventure. Together, they built lasting friendships within the windsurfing community as they traveled to windy destinations around the world in addition to camping in Hood River, Oregon every summer and traveling to their home in Costa Rica every winter.

Ron is remembered as an intensely focused yet fun-loving renaissance man, known for his warm smile, easy laugh, and boundless curiosity. Kind and humble, he carried a deep sense of integrity in his professional and personal life, while still appreciating a good lawyer joke. Ron loved sharing his interests with his friends and family and took great pride in the life he built with them. A devoted father and grandfather, he especially cherished his 55 years of marriage to Marcia.

He is survived by his wife, Marcia; their children, Julie and her husband Matt, Karen and her husband Eddie; and 4 grandchildren, Silas, Lola, Josie, and Jordie.

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