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Ron Rogers, a longtime presence in the Los Angeles public relations business and civic affairs, died on Friday. The cause was respiratory complications related to cancer, the LA Times reports. Rogers grew up around the Hollywood PR business — his father Henry co-started the iconic firm Rogers and Cowan — and he started his own firm in 1978. The Rogers Group merged with Ruder Finn in 2011.
Rogers played key roles with the LAPD Foundation, the LAFD Foundation, Coro Southern California, the Rape Treatment Center at UCLA-Santa Monica Hospital and other nonprofits. He also was on the advisory board of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.
With his wife, Los Angeles attorney Lisa Specht, Rogers owned a 1,500-acre cattle ranch in Colorado and led yearly drives of cattle. "He was probably the most genteel and generous person that I know," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck told the LA Times. "I meet a lot of people, and ... you know, he was real genuine."
