Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Ron Avery, 85, of Philadelphia, retired eclectic reporter and columnist for the Daily News, Philadelphia historian, volunteer city tour guide, author, high school history teacher, veteran, and canoe enthusiast, died Sunday, Aug. 2, of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at his home in East Falls<\/a>.<\/p>\n Born and reared in Northeast Philadelphia<\/a>, Mr. Avery graduated from Thomas Edison High School and earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in history at Pennsylvania State University. He was assigned to the ship newspaper in the Navy after college, found a creative niche in journalism, and went on to work for more than 30 years at the Associated Press, the Bucks County<\/a> Courier Times, the Courier-Post in South Jersey, and the Daily News.<\/p>\n He wrote for the Daily News as a correspondent in 1981, joined the staff in 1982, and, until his retirement in 2000, wrote thousands of stories about crime, casinos, war orphans, historic houses, the MOVE bombing, local notables, and other subjects. His columns, \u201cPoor Ronald\u2019s Almanac\u201d and \u201cOne of Us,\u201d hammered away at local issues and featured everyday people doing exceptional things.<\/p>\n \u201cHe covered every nook and cranny of the city,\u201d said his son Serge. \u201cThat burning curiosity sustained him \u2018til his last days.\u201d <\/p>\n He wrote three books about Philadelphia, including A Concise History of Philadelphia<\/a> in 1999. He produced a series of video guides he called the Urban Explorer for local TV in 2004 and posted blogs about the city from 2017 to 2019 on a website called Philadelphia Cracks Me Up<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cLike all cities,\u201d he said in a 1995 Daily News column, \u201cPhiladelphia is honeycombed with hidden spaces and forgotten places.\u201d In a 1997 review of his book, City of Brotherly Mayhem, Philadelphia Crimes and Criminals<\/a>, The Inquirer\u2019s Thomas Brady said: \u201cThe book \u2026 is decidedly a fun read.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Philadelphia, madam. You never know what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Avery in one of his Urban Explorer videos<\/p>\n Alex Strang, his director on the Urban Explorer videos<\/a>, called Mr. Avery an \u201cunforgettable legend\u201d and \u201ca walking encyclopedia of the city\u2019s history and eccentricities\u201d in a Facebook tribute<\/a>. Other former colleagues said he was<\/a> \u201ca clever journalist\u201d and \u201ca true Philadelphian.\u201d <\/p>\n Longtime Daily News colleague Robin Palley said on Facebook<\/a>: \u201cHe had an amazing knack of finding quirky people with fascinating skills or habits and making them come to life on our pages.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the Daily News, Mr. Avery wrote news and feature stories for the Courier-Post in the 1970s, and the Courier Times and the AP in the 1960s. He moved to Israel for six months in 1972 but returned to work for the Courier-Post in 1973.<\/p>\n He also wrote freelance pieces for the Hidden City Daily<\/a>, PhillyHistory.org<\/a>, UShistory.org<\/a>, and op-eds<\/a> later for The Inquirer and Daily News. He served in the Navy from 1964 to 1966, joined the Philadelphia Canoe Club later, and led water trips in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Ron Avery: Philadelphia tour guides should be educated, tested, and licensed<\/a><\/p>\n Knowledgeable, energetic, and naturally affable, he was a tireless promoter and volunteer guide in Philadelphia. He led walking tours throughout the city for students, civic groups, and other organizations, and his explanatory video tours featured cobblestone alleys, urban gardens, museums, statues, and other features of city life.<\/p>\n He was a stickler for details and historical accuracy, and he helped spur City Council to pass an ordinance in 2008 to educate and certify paid Center City<\/a> tour guides. \u201cThey score high as Philadelphia ambassadors of good will,\u201d he said in a 1995 column about uneducated guides, \u201cbut as historians they often flunk out.\u201d <\/p>\n Ronald Avery<\/a> was born June 10, 1941, in Strawberry Mansion<\/a>. He joined the Boy Scouts, earned his bachelor\u2019s degree at Penn State<\/a> in 1963, and taught history at Bensalem High School for a year. <\/p>\n He was a boxer in college and, mesmerized by the sport, later worked as a referee for amateur matches. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Ron Avery: When journalism involved typewriters and glue pots<\/a><\/p>\n He met Suzet Habif in Israel in 1967, and they married in 1968. They had sons Serge and Ben, and lived for years in a rowhouse in Oxford Circle.<\/p>\n Mr. Avery cared for his wife during her long illness in the 1980s and \u201890s. She died in 1993. <\/p>\n He lived later in Pennsport and East Falls, was diagnosed with ALS in 2015, and proudly outlived its average life expectancy of 18 months by nearly a decade. \u201cHe defied that diagnosis and did not let it define him,\u201d his son Serge said. \u201cHe always said he had a lot to live for.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Avery was an avid reader and street photographer<\/a>. He liked poetry, wrote limericks on birthday cards, and posted hundreds of his photos on flickr.com<\/a>. One of his photos won a contest and was displayed at the airport. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Ron Avery: History repeats itself with the reincarnation of the hateful Know-Nothing Party<\/a><\/p>\n He enjoyed jazz and jokes, led the prayers at family gatherings, and gave Yiddish quizzes to his two grandsons. He shared favorite recipes with Daily News colleagues and whipped up memorable homemade soups, especially white bean. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll greatly miss his endless anecdotes about all things Philadelphia,\u201d said his daughter-in-law, Rebecca Houlding, \u201cthe stories about the local criminals, and his love of his family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n His son Serge said: \u201cHe loved chasing the stories from the back alleys and driveways, highlighting the working people of our town.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to his sons, daughter-in-law, and grandsons, Mr. Avery is survived by other relatives. A sister died earlier. <\/p>\n Services were held earlier.<\/p>\n Donations in his name may be made to Paralyzed Veterans of America<\/a>, Box 758589, Topeka, Kan. 66675; and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society<\/a>, Box 8688, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min Ron Avery, 85, of Philadelphia, retired eclectic reporter and columnist for the Daily…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,114278],"class_list":["post-271446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-ron-ronald-avery-obituary-philadelphia-daily-news-history-penn-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}