A Brief Biography of Ronald Lee

Ronald Lee was born in Montréal but spent his formative years from age 5 to 13 in the UK. After his return to Montréal, he lived there most of his life, moving to Ontario in 1994. He currently lives in Hamilton with his wife, Giannina Bottacinni. During his lifetime, he has worked at many jobs and professions interspersed with periods of self-employment from teenage office-boy to coppersmith in rural Québec with Kalderash-Roma, mechanic, folk musician, model-building engineer at the Montreal Military and Maritime Museum and finally, journalist and author.

In 1997 he moved to Toronto to become a founding member of the Roma Community and Advocacy Centre now renamed the Roma Community Centre (RCAC). During this period, he has managed various programs and served as executive director and chairman of the Board of Directors. Since 2003, he has been teaching a spring seminar entitled The Romani Diaspora in Canada at New College, University of Toronto.