Ronald L. Wilson

Ronald L. Wilson, M.D., B.A. ’71, a beloved Waco physician, avid Baylor supporter and former member of the Baylor Board of Regents, died on July 27.

Wilson attended Southern Arkansas State (now University) on a basketball scholarship. He met Christ at a Baptist Student Union retreat there as a freshman before transferring to Baylor University as a sophomore in the spring of 1970, a notable year as he met his wife, Betty, B.A. ’72, and began his lifelong dedication to Baylor. He served Baylor in several capacities: as a professor, as a member of the College of Arts & Sciences Board of Advocates and the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences Board of Advocates, and as a member of the Baylor Board of Regents from 2010-19.

Wilson graduated from Baylor in 1971 and Baylor College of Medicine in 1974, both with honors. He served as a physician in the United States Air Force until 1983, completing his internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. He then joined the USAF Medical faculty, where he was a clinical nephrologist, the director of the transplant immunology laboratory and director of hemodialysis until he transitioned into a career in private practice. He was a partner of Central Texas Nephrology Associates in Waco until 2013, when he joined Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center, starting an internal medicine outpatient clinic where he practiced for another seven years until his retirement. For Wilson, medicine wasn’t just a profession or career but a calling and a ministry.

Wilson was a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He also was a member of the Texas Medical Association, McLennan County Medical Society and McLennan County Medical Education and Research Foundation. He was a multiple recipient of the Aynesworth Outstanding Teaching Award in the Family Practice Residency Program.

In addition to his service on Baylor advisory boards, Wilson was medical director for Baylor’s Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation laboratory and a member of the Baylor Bear Foundation, Baylor/Waco Foundation and Endowed Scholarship Society for endowing a National Merit Scholarship. He also served on the steering committee for Lt. Jack Whetsel Jr. Basketball Practice Facility.

He was a member of First Baptist Church Woodway. Wilson loved the Lord and his church, serving as a deacon, Sunday school teacher and director and choir member in churches in San Antonio, Corsicana and Waco. His life was one of service to his Lord, his family, his patients, his friends and Baylor University.