Ronald E. Russell was born in St. Croix Virgin Islands on June 10, 1954 to Grace Russell and Edwin Russell Sr.  Ronnie, as he is affectionately called, lost his mother at an early age and he and his brother Edwin were raised by his maternal grandmother, Eulalie C. Rivera, the esteemed educator after whom the Grove Place Elementary School was renamed.   Ms. Rivera is retired and remains a large part of his life.

 

Ronnie attended the Claude O. Markoe Elementary School from first to eighth grade and later attended the Central High School, where he graduated in 1972.  Ronnie had a wonderful childhood in Frederiksted, St. Croix, marked with rewarding activities such as Boy Scouts, basketball, camping, bicycle riding, and swimming in the ocean.   At age eleven, Ronnie began teaching himself to play the guitar. 

 

In high school, Ronnie participated in track and field and played music professionally.   He also represented his school and island in track, basketball, and football.  Ronnie has represented the Virgin Islands in the 1976 and 1984 Olympic Games and has been President of the Virgin Islands Track & Field Federation for the past 21 years.

 

Upon graduation from high school, Ronnie attended the (then) College of the Virgin Islands where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Chemistry.  He went on to earn a second Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music from Rutgers University.   Ronnie returned to the Virgin Islands to teach music at Claude O. Markoe School in Frederiksted.  He taught music for two years before becoming a part-time adult education instructor teaching science, math, and skills courses.   At the same time, Ronnie was deeply involved in composing, arranging and producing music.  It is during this period that he composed and arranged for the Junior Calypso tent, the Christmas Festival Calypso Tent, and recorded and assisted with the writing of original music for various events, including the entire soundtrack for a  local play.  Ronnie has formed or been associated with several musical bands including Soul Busters, Onyx, and the Ronnie Russell Quartet.   He is an accomplished jazz guitarist.

 

In September 1986, Ronnie enrolled in Rutgers Law School, Newark, New Jersey and received  a Juris Doctor degree,  with honors, in 1989.  Partly because of his clinical experience with the Urban Legal Clinic and Constitutional Law Clinic in New Jersey, Ronnie was named the most promising trial attorney in May of 1989.  During summers, Ronnie worked at a large firm in New Jersey and clerked for the Honorable Judge Harold Ackerman.  On obtaining his law degree, Ronnie moved to St. Thomas to clerk with the United States District Court.  Because there was no permanent federal judge in the Virgin Islands, Ronnie was fortunate to work with distinguished visiting judges including Judges Robert Carter, Daniel Huyett, Clifford Greene and  Stanley S. Brotman.  In 1991, he began working for Hodge and Sheen P.C., as a law associate.  After the untimely death of Attorney Albert Sheen, Ronnie opened his solo practice in February 1993.  Since then, Ronnie has worked as a solo practitioner in Frederiksted, St. Croix, concentrating on personal injury litigation, labor and criminal law.  In 2001, he formed a partnership with another local attorney, Martial A. Webster.  The firm of Russell & Webster, LLC, enjoys a thriving practice in Frederiksted.