Rene died on November 28, 2019 after a 7 year battle with lung cancer. Rene and her late husband, Robert, were married for almost 50 years. They have 2 children and 5 grandchildren. After graduating from the U of I (where she met and married Bob) they moved to Tampa FL. Rene founded and ran The Clay Factory, a regional supplier of pottery materials for institutions and a school for potters and artists. Later in life Rene founded the Lifelong Learning Society at Florida Atlantic University. Over the following nineteen years, Rene grew the program into the largest Lifelong Learning Society in the United States.