Arts Garage Legacy Board Member
Gifted and Quirky Advisory Board Member
Kiwanis Club of Delray Beach Incoming Board Member
Advocate for local LGBTQ community
THEN: A natural athlete, Ronnie Dunayer was a rising nationally ranked junior tennis player in her teens until a horseback riding accident left her with a broken back. Years later, she would swap the tennis racquet for a set of golf clubs and become well known in Delray Beach as a respected golf teaching professional. In the interim, Dunayer earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in psychology, founded a tennis school, and served as a volunteer firefighter. Growing up in Miami Beach, where she honed her tennis skills, Dunayer attended Adelphi University in New York and ended up staying in the Empire State for 23 years. Her introduction to the nonprofit world came when she earned a job as a recreational therapist for an organization serving children and adults with learning disabilities. She would later become the organization’s director of the Center for Independent Living.
NOW: Dunayer and her now-wife Charlotte moved to Delray Beach in 2000, and Dunayer began teaching tennis at a private club and later teaching golf. Before long, she graduated to teaching golf at the Delray Beach Golf Club, which she’s been doing for 20 years. Committed to making the community stronger, Dunayer became active in nonprofits, joining the original board of Arts Garage and serving as board president for nine years. Dunayer was also a member of the Delray Beach Initiative, which supported nonprofits serving children, and she is on the advisory board of Gifted and Quirky. Much of her free time these days is devoted to working with a group to resurrect a pride memorial following the state’s decision to remove a pride intersection near downtown. “We don’t want to have our history eradicated,” she said.
