For-sale sign on Harry Liggett’s home

Tom Liggett, musician son of BJ Alums founder and the late BJ newsroom retiree Harry Liggett, posted this sad note:

“As a Realtor I posted a lot of for sale signs. The one I put in my parents’ house today was the tough one.”

Harry and his wife, Helen Smolak Liggett, lived at 544 North Firestone Blvd after they left their marital home in Dennison, Ohio and Harry began his legendary career at the Beacon Journal.

Ohio State graduate Harry was BJ assistant news editor at the BJ and was part of the 1970s State Desk team under the late Pat Englehart, who died in Florida in 1995. 

Harry Liggett, John Olesky

Harry passed away Jan. 24, 2014. He joined Helen, who died June 26, 2010, in Akron’s Holy Cross Cemetery.

John Olesky, their State Desk co-conspirators, joined the BJ in 1969.

Harry and Helen were married in the Immaculate Conception Church in 1956. They moved to Akron when Harry was hired by the Beacon Journal in 1965. 

Now Harry belongs to the ages, and Helen.