Stephen John Ramos

Stephen Ramos, Beloved Professor of Urban Planning

Stephen John Ramos, 55, passed away on January 20, 2026, after a cardiac arrest. He was Professor of Urban Planning in UGA's College of Environment + Design. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 8, 1970, to Dr. Emilio Ramos and Jane Gore Ramos, he grew up in Ellicott City, Maryland. He is survived by his wife and partner of thirty years, Nuria Jaumot-Pascual, his children, GJ, 16, and Enzo, 13, all of Athens, Georgia, and by his brother Peter, sister-in-law Diane, nephew Simon, and niece Nyla of Buffalo, New York, and by many friends and colleagues. He was preceded in death by his parents.

As teenagers, he and his brother Peter and neighborhood friends formed a post-punk band The Unknown, which released two albums with Stephen on guitar.

In true partnership, Stephen and Nuria supported each other in their academic pursuits through the years. Stephen earned a degree in English and Spanish at Gettysburg College in 1993, after which he moved to Nicaragua, where he met Nuria, and where they both worked in international development. Project Gettysburg-León, a nonprofit partnership supporting sustainable development, had been formed a decade earlier as a twin cities relationship to help the poorest country in the western hemisphere. An endowment in Stephen's name will benefit the organization.

In 2000, Stephen earned twin master's degrees in Community and Regional Planning and Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where Nuria earned her bachelor's degree in anthropology. From Austin, the couple moved to Spain, and in 2005, to Cambridge, to study at Harvard. Stephen focused on urban planning and design, and Nuria earned a master's in Management. In 2009, he received his Doctor of Design from Harvard GSD, where he researched the first of his two books, Dubai Amplified: The Engineering of a Port Geography (Routledge Press, 2010), a crucial text on Middle East harbor engineering. Having been born in Boston and reared in Baltimore, Dr. Ramos recently admitted, "There's something conceptually intriguing about the coast. You know why it is that people remain there."

In 2010, as he was turning his dissertation into his first book, GJ was born. During the pregnancy, Stephen attended all doctors' meetings and assiduously read to the baby in the womb. He became a dedicated and loving father on January 10. In 2013, as he was working on establishing his scholarship on ports and infrastructure, Enzo was born. When interviewed for an article at UGA, he said that the most significant event of his time at UGA was the birth of his son.

An international scholar of port cities, infrastructure, transition, logistics, and planning history, Dr. Ramos has served on numerous editorial and advisory boards and scientific committees and has been the recipient of various research grants. In 2011, he became an Assistant Professor at the CED at the University of Georgia. Nuria earned her PhD in Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methodologies at the university's Mary Frances Early College of Education in 2018 while Dr. Ramos was a Visiting Professor on the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, (TU) Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Dr. Ramos's second book Folk Engineering: Planning Southern Regionalism (University of NC Press, 2025) was developed during his tenure at UGA. It explores Georgia native Howard Odum's work at the University of North Carolina and how it influenced regional planning during the interwar period and specifically how it shaped federal New Deal policies.

The twin doctoral couple enjoyed thirty years together. Ramos was a beloved professor, a loving husband, and a dedicated parent. The family enjoyed yearly trips to Dr. Jaumot-Pascual's native Catalunya and to meet old friends in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Locally, they have enjoyed the many nature trails and a wide group of colleagues and friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Project Gettysburg-León (https://app.aplos.com/aws/give/ProjectGettysburgLeon/general) and on the Meal Train site (https://mealtrain.com/8nql14), where funds are being collected to establish a scholarship for students of color in Stephen's name.

Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.