OffBeat is deeply saddened to report the death of Ronald W. Lewis, the Original Big Nine Social and Pleasure Club founder and director of the House of Dance & Feathers.

A report from WWOZ didn’t list a cause of death of the 68-year-old, and the news arrives on the same day the Advocate reported on the death of Go DJ Black and Mild, a prominent member of the bounce and hip-hop community in New Orleans and someone who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

However, as OffBeat.com reported in 2019, Lewis was the beneficiary of a fundraiser to assist in his battle against “serious issues of the gallbladder and kidney.”

Lewis’ role in the cultural community of New Orleans was one of a giant. In 2016, OffBeat‘s Geraldine Wyckoff shared Lewis’ life story. There, she wrote, “Through the decades, Ronald Lewis has played numerous roles in the New Orleans—and particularly his Lower Ninth Ward—community. He’s masked Indian and skeleton, second lined out the door with social aid and pleasure clubs, taken photographs, curated his museum, The House of Dance & Feathers, and authored a book of the same name…During Lewis’ lifetime journey in New Orleans’ African-American cultural traditions, he hasn’t wavered in his dedication no matter his role.”