Ronald "Ron" Peresich

Ronald Giles Peresich passed away peacefully at home on May 23, 2025. He was 82.

Ron lived all but the very first few years of his life in Biloxi, growing up on Hopkins Boulevard. He was the oldest of five children of Giles Harkness Peresich and Beatrice Bisso Peresich. He grew up playing baseball, eventually earning a baseball scholarship to pitch for Coach Tom Swayze at Ole Miss. In 1964 they won the SEC Championship, and Ron pitched for Ole Miss in the College World Series. He was inducted into the Biloxi Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.

While his first love was baseball, all that changed when he met his wife of 56 years, Ramona.

After graduating with a BS in Accounting, Ron enrolled in law school at Ole Miss. While in law school, he worked three jobs to pay his way. He was Chairman of the Honor Council, served on the Moot Court Board and was a member of the Phi Alpha Delta Legal Research Exchange.

After graduating law school at the University of Mississippi in 1968, Ron served as a law clerk to the Mississippi Supreme Court’s Chief Justice W.N. Ethridge, Jr., a man he considered one of the finest legal minds he ever met.

Ron and Ramona moved to Biloxi in 1969, and he went to work with Lyle Page. Ron was the managing partner of Page, Mannino, Peresich & McDermott for many years until his retirement in 2021. His children, Ron and Randi, worked with him, and he also practiced with his brother, Stephen, and cousin Michael McDermott.

He was a giant of the legal community and a true trial lawyer, trying cases all over Mississippi and representing clients throughout the country. Ron was licensed to practice law in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Georgia. He represented Fortune 500 companies, governmental entities, local businesses, and individuals.

Ron expected a lot from those he worked with, but never more than he was willing to do himself. He was always there for help and support, mentoring young lawyers, whether they worked in his firm or elsewhere. Ron championed women lawyers, making sure they had opportunities to sharpen their skills. He wrote numerous legal articles and spoke at countless seminars educating other lawyers.

Ron represented the City of Biloxi for many decades, starting as a City Prosecutor and later becoming the City Attorney representing the administration, its police officers, and other employees in all types of litigation and commercial matters. He considered this some of his most important work because of the impact he believed it had on the city, its employees, and his community.

Ron was a proud member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and was selected one of the Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation and Toxic Torts. He was also selected one of Mississippi’s Top 50 Lawyers, a SuperLawyer, and was AV rated by Martindale. He was a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation and served as President of the Harrison County Bar Association (1986-87).

Ron spent almost as much time working to improve Biloxi, the Gulf Coast, and Mississippi as he did practicing law. While Biloxi was always at the forefront of his mind, he believed business and governmental leaders on the Coast needed to work together for the betterment of the Coast. He was instrumental in bringing gaming to the Coast, working for years to accomplish that goal. He spent countless days traveling to Jackson and Washington, DC lobbying for Biloxi and the Coast, particularly after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Ron was a co-founder of Leadership Mississippi, Leadership Gulf Coast, and Coast 21 — a regional coalition of business leaders committed to well-planned economic development. He served as President of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce and was Chairman of the Harrison County Strategic Planning Initiative.

Ron served as the second Chairman of the Gulf Coast Business Council from 2011 until 2016 and was instrumental in its formation and many accomplishments in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Chairman of the GCBC serve a 2-year term, but Ron selflessly served longer, at the request of his fellow GCBC members, to help transition the organization from Katrina recovery to a leadership organization for the future.

Ron was recognized many times for his civic work receiving the Pat Santucci Spirit of the Coast Award (2000), Mississippi Economic Development Volunteer of the Year (1998), Southern Economic Development Council Volunteer of the Year (1999), Biloxi Lions Club Outstanding Citizen Award (1999), Outstanding Community Leader Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce (2006), and the Alonzo Westbrook Public Service Award from the Harrison County Bar Association (2001).

He served as Vice-Chairman of the Mississippi State Oil & Gas Board, and Governor Haley Barbour appointed him to serve on the Mississippi Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee in 2008.

Ron and Ramona had a great marriage for 56 years, and he never hesitated to let her and everyone else know how much he loved her. He loved telling people about the first time he laid eyes on her.

Ron loved his dogs almost as much as his family and was known to stop in the middle of the road to rescue turtles. He was a long-time supporter of the Humane Society of South Mississippi.

Ron was a golf enthusiast all his life, winning too many tournaments to count. He started playing golf with his father, Giles Peresich, who was also an avid golfer. At different times both he and his father held the course record at Sunkist Golf Course.

Ron is survived by his wife of 56 years, Ramona Hennessee Peresich; children, Ron Peresich Jr. and the Hon. Randi Peresich Mueller (Tom); grandson, Henry Mueller; and siblings, Adele Peresich Pate (Jim), Stephen Giles Peresich (Ellen) and Joanne Peresich Glenn (Larry) as well as their children, grandchildren and a host of cousins.

Services will be held on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at 11:00 am at the Howard Avenue Chapel of Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Home in Biloxi. Friends may visit at 9:00am. Interment at Southern Memorial Park to follow. Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Ron Peresich.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Gulf Coast Women’s Center for Nonviolence, P.O. Box 333, Biloxi, MS 39533 or the Humane Society of South Mississippi, 2615 25th Avenue, Gulfport, MS 39501.