Ronald Jean Pepper

Ronald Jean Pepper, age 92, of Alpharetta, GA, passed away on December 22, 2025 following a short illness. He was born on May 12, 1933 in Tallahassee, FL, where he graduated from Leon High School in 1951. After brief stints at both the University of Miami and the University of Florida, he enlisted in the Army in 1953 and was stationed in Korea as a morse code interceptor. After his discharge in 1956, he attended Florida State University where during this time, he noticed the beautiful Jakie Pearce at the gift wrapping counter at Mendelson’s Department Store in Tallahassee. By 1957, they were married and moving to Charlotte, NC to begin Ron’s career at Levi Strauss and Co.

His journey as a salesman with Levi’s brought moves to Miami and New York, eventually ending up in Atlanta as the Southeast Regional Sales Manager. He was well-loved by his colleagues, who often described him as inspirational, a true gentleman, caring, and supportive. After retiring in 1998, he was able to indulge himself in one of his true loves – college football. After a few decades of rooting for whichever Florida college team was winning, he settled on FSU as his favorite (probably helped that two of his children attended FSU and a lot of his money was going there), and became a die-hard FSU fan, attending as many home games as he could manage. He and his late wife Jakie even endowed two scholarships at FSU: one in merchandising and one in instrumental music education.

Another love of Ronnie’s was his three granddaughters, who lived in Marquette, MI – a place of extreme cold and snow. But his love for his grandchildren exceeded his hatred of snow and he visited often. He also spent much of his retirement attending car shows. After Ron’s first wife Jakie passed away from early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2007, he met and married Natalie (Zadoff) Gold – and the family knew he was serious about her when he agreed to sell his beloved Corvettes so they could downsize and make the move to Alpharetta.

Ron is survived by his wife, Natalie Pepper; his sister, Eileen (Pepper) Franks, of West Palm Beach, FL; his three children, Eric (Sharon) Pepper and Jack (Leslie) Pepper, both of Atlanta, and Betsy (Steve) Grugin, of Marquette, MI; and his three grandchildren, Elizabeth (Devin) Grugin Mahoney and Kayla Grugin, both of Marquette, MI and Mallory Grugin, of Palm Beach, FL. He is also survived by his stepson Michael (Mindy) Gold and his son Jackson, along with numerous nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters-in-law

Ron is preceded in death by his parents, Milton Pepper and Florence (Mendelson) Pepper and his sister, Marilyn (Pepper) Horn.

Ron has been a member of Temple Sinai in Atlanta for 51 years, and was a member of Temple Israel in Tallahassee, FL in his youth.

There will be a graveside service at Culley’s MeadowWood Memorial Park at 700 Timberlane Road in Tallahassee, FL on Sunday, December 28, 2025 at 11:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be sent to the Alzheimer’s Association at https://www.alz.org/get-involved-now/donate