Dr. Thomas Kono Ranuga

Dr. Thomas Kono Gcinumzi Ranuga – the last-born of the eight children of Reverend Henry Ranuga and Agnes Ranuga, a longtime New Bedford resident, and Chancellor Professor, Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth – passed away peacefully at his home on the morning of January 18, 2025.

Dr. Ranuga was born on July 17, 1938, on a farm in the district of Marikana in South Africa, and he grew up in the black township of Brits. Following the receipt of his primary and secondary education and the passing of his matriculation exam in 1959, Dr. Ranuga spent two years at St. Peter’s Major Seminary studying Scholastic Philosophy and Theology before pivoting to a pursuit of secular education at the University of Fort Hare in 1965. Shortly after a chance encounter introduced him to his future wife, Thembi, in 1969, Dr. Ranuga enrolled at the University of the North in 1970 to pursue a degree in Pharmacy, but his study was interrupted when he was expelled in 1972 for his participation in anti-Apartheid activities. In that same year, Dr. Ranuga would begin a long life lived abroad as he departed South Africa for England, where he resumed his educational pursuits and earned a B.Sc. degree with honors in 1977 at the Polytechnic of North London, and his journey as a student concluded in the United States when he received his Ph.D. degree in Sociology from Brandeis University in 1983.

Dr. Ranuga then graduated from student to teacher when he was hired in 1983 by Southeastern Massachusetts University (now the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) to teach Sociology – specializing in Race and Ethnicity as well as Social Movements – and he would serve the institution and its students in that capacity until he retired as a Chancellor Professor in 2008. Throughout his long and distinguished academic career, Dr. Ranuga published numerous articles and multiple books relating to the black struggle against Apartheid and the outlook for black South Africans following its collapse, with his writings reflecting both the attitude and the perspective that were at the foundation of his political actions in support of the fight for black South Africans’ freedom.

Dr. Ranuga’s social consciousness was not only grounded in his personal experience of oppression from his years in South Africa, but it was also supported by his deep-rooted Catholic faith that engendered within him both a respect for life and an obligation to heed God’s call to love one another. A regular reader of the Bible and a devout attendee of mass – whether at St. Anthony of Padua Church or at Our Lady’s Chapel in New Bedford – Dr. Ranuga fervently continued to strengthen his faith while in retirement, and he would recount his life’s journeys of faith, family, and profession in his final written work of “Surviving Apartheid,” a memoir that was first published in 2014.

In addition to his endeavors of the mind and of the spirit, Dr. Ranuga would also take on the endeavor of the body following an impromptu school day race against friend and fellow educator Dr. Herbert Waters, Jr. on the grounds of Sgt. William H. Carney Academy in New Bedford. Following his short-distance sprint victory, Dr. Ranuga accepted Dr. Waters’ invitation to run at a Rhode Island Senior Games event, where a resounding and sobering defeat birthed a competitive running spirit that would earn him redemption with years of victories and medals at Senior Games throughout the country. Dr. Ranuga pursued his late-blooming passion for sprinting with the same vigor that he brought to his personal education, teaching profession, and faith, and upon hanging up his track spikes, he would find enjoyment alongside his wife in more frequent domestic and international travel, classical and jazz music concerts, laugh-filled dinners with former academic colleagues, and energy-infusing time in the company of his three grandchildren.

The Ranuga family will forever be grateful and indebted to Baba for all that he did for our family as a husband and as a father, and we will both cherish the many memories that we were blessed to share with him as well as carry forward the life lessons that he imparted upon us all with his word and deed. Beyond the walls of our family’s home, Dr. Ranuga’s legacy of career contributions will continue to bear fruit through the conscious actions and pursuits of the many students that he guided throughout his quarter century of leadership in higher learning.

Dr. Ranuga was preceded in his transition by his first-born son Christopher in South Africa. He is survived by his wife of over 49 years Thembi; his son Mpumi and grandson Darion of Irvine, California; his son Dumi of New York, New York; and his son Siso, daughter-in-law Misty, grandson Caleb, and granddaughter Maya of New Bedford, Massachusetts. A wake in memory of Dr. Ranuga will be held at Rock Funeral Home in New Bedford from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Friday January 24, 2025. A funeral mass in celebration of his life will be held at St. Anthony of Padua Church in New Bedford at 10:00 AM on Saturday January 25, 2025. In lieu of flowers and in tribute to what Baba held dearest in his heart, the Ranuga family kindly asks that a contribution be made in his name to support the Franciscan Friars of Our Lady’s Chapel in New Bedford.