The cantor-poet loved social justice and had just returned from the People’s Climate March in New York.
From The Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia:
On the eve of Yom Kippur, the Reconstructionist congregation Mishkan Shalom is mourning the loss of one of its distinctive voices.
Ronald Fischman, 54, was murdered on the night of Sept. 30 at his home on the 200 block of East Phil Ellena Street, according to a Philadelphia Police Department report. A suspect, Jonathan Williams, was arrested near the home after a witness identified him as fleeing the residence and police found him with a laceration on his right hand.
Williams, 33, is charged with murder, burglary, criminal trespass and related offenses. He and his boyfriend had once stayed at Fischman’s home until Fischman asked them to leave, according to a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Fischman later allowed the boyfriend to return, but not Williams, and Fischman had recently told neighbors to call the police if they saw Williams around the property. According to the report, the suspect had entered Fischman’s residence though a basement window and chased his boyfriend through the house. When Fischman tried to calm him down, Williams allegedly stabbed him to death.