TV journalist Paul Rae dies

Ex-Akron bureau chief for WKYC described as `straight reporter'

Funeral services for broadcast journalist Paul Rae will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Bokas Funeral Home and Rose Hill Burial Park at 3653 W. Market St. in Fairlawn.

Mr. Rae, 57, died Friday at the Hospice Care Center in Copley Township after a brief illness.

Calling hours will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home.

A native of Toledo, Mr. Rae worked in radio and television and video production in Toledo, Detroit, Albany, N.Y., Washington, and Richmond, Va., before he became a producer for WKYC-Channel 3 in 1983.

He was named the station's Akron bureau chief in 1985, a post he held until late 1991. Later, he ran his own video-production company.

``He was a tremendous guy,'' said Leon Bibb, a news anchor for WEWS-Channel 5 who worked with Mr. Rae at WKYC. ``We got to know each other better by playing on the company softball team. ``We hit it off. We thought a lot alike about journalism and reporting and what television should be.''

Eric Mansfield, a WKYC reporter and anchor in Akron, said Mr. Rae ``had a good way of telling a story and making it so the viewer not only grasped the facts but grasped the emotion.''

Mansfield said he still gets mail for Mr. Rae and often looks at some of Rae's memorable stories, including a three-part series on the 20th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State University.

A longtime friend and co-worker, WKYC videographer Larry Baker, described Mr. Rae as ``a straight reporter who gave you the truth.''

And Russ Siebert, University of Akron vice president of board operations, who knew Mr. Rae for 20 years, said he ``was a consummate professional.''

Mr. Rae was a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve.

He is survived by his wife, Vicki Rae, and children Joanna Rae of Cleveland and Noel Frazer of Akron.

[The full obit by Jim Carney appears on page B4, col. l, Akron Beacon Journal, Saturday, April 8, 2006]