Ron Kapon has over 60 years of experience in the wine & spirit field. His family's business Acker, Merrall & Condit was established in 1820 and is the oldest wine merchant in the United States. He graduated from Columbia College & the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University and moved to Europe where he developed his love for wine. Returning to operate his family's business he immediately knew his passion was teaching, writing & lecturing and so moved in that direction.
Ron began the wine programs at Queens College, New York Institute of Technology as well as C.W.Post. Traveling to the wine regions of the world and writing about them led him to his goal of visiting 150 countries ( he is at 149) by 2021. In 1995 he organized the new wine program at the International School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Fairleigh Dickinson University and has taught both wine & spirits since then at their Hackensack campus. In addition, he teaches the wine program at Hudson County Community College Culinary Arts in downtown Jersey City. He was recently honored by the James Beard Foundation for his educational efforts. He has established the Ron Kapon Wine Library at FDU with a donation of over 5,000 books, magazines and articles.
Lecturing about wine & spirits came easy and Professor Kapon has conducted over 60 events both in the US and abroad for private and corporate clients. The Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Cyprus, and German governments have invited him to serve on panel discussions. Within the United States, he co-founded Les Amis du Vin & Tasters Guild NY and ran both organizations for 30 years. His family's Acker Auctions is the largest wine auction company in the world.
You can read Ron's articles in The Fifty Best, Cheese Connoisseur Magazine, Wine Country International, Real Travel Adventures, Everywhere Magazine, North American Travel Journalist Association, Travel World Magazine, AllWays Traveller, Local Wine Events, Tasters Guild Journal, Leisure Travel Report and Fabseniortravel.
He is the co-author and co-producer of the FDU On-Line Wine Course which was developed for the NY Times Knowledge Network.