Ronald Wayne Collins author, historian and genealogist, is the son of Winfred Allen Collins and Leona Matilda Leppard Collins.

He was born in Glens Falls, New York

Glens Falls, New York

Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States. Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census...

. A graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook

State University of New York at Stony Brook

The State University of New York at Stony Brook, also known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, about east of Manhattan....

 with a degree in Mathematics in 1972, Collins went on to SUNY-Albany

University at Albany, The State University of New York

The State University of New York at Albany, also known as University at Albany, State University of New York, SUNY Albany or simply UAlbany, is a public university located in Albany, Guilderland, and East Greenbush, New York, United States; is the senior campus of the State University of New York ...

 in a dual-track Masters program in Physics and Ph.D. program in Philosophy of Science, 1973-75. His education has also included the Georgia State University

Georgia State University

Georgia State University is a research university in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1913, it serves about 30,000 students and is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities...

 School of Business Administration's Advanced Program in Management and Program Management (1978); Northeastern University's

Northeastern University, Boston

Northeastern University , is a private, secular, coeducational research university in Boston, Massachusetts. Northeastern has eight colleges and offers undergraduate majors in 65 departments...

 course in Operations Research and Computer Science Management (1982); and the University of California at Berkeley's

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 Executive Development Program, 1985. He was elected to the Philosophy of Science Association in 1972 and was listed with honors by the National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

 1975.

Following a successful career in business where he held positions as Divisional Vice President and European Managing Director for the Polaroid Corporation

Polaroid Corporation

Polaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...

, and following that as President and CEO of Convergent Energy and Convergent Manufacturing Systems, Collins authored over eight books of genealogy and history. He married Phyllis Jean Matteson on July 12, 1969, and divorced on January 27, 1999. By Matteson he had one son, Christopher, born February 14, 1970. On September 2, 2001 he married Janice Dodd; they now reside in Hebron

Hebron, New Hampshire

Hebron is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 602 at the 2010 census. Settlements include the town center and the village of East Hebron.- History :...

, New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

.