Happy birthday, Harry!

Today – Tuesday, March 3 – is Harry Liggett’s birthday. He would have been 84 if he hadn’t passed away Jan. 24, 2014, one of the saddest days in my life.

Harry Liggett (left), John Olesky

The no-nonsense, high-quality legend came to Akron and the BJ from Dennison in 1965.  He retired in 1995 and founded this blog, which I inherited after Harry’s death after an apprenticeship of several years with Harry making sure I kept my contributions up to his lofty standards.

He ran the BJ Alums blog the way he did his job at the BJ: Ferocious, determined, gruff but a damned good journalist. 

Today Harry is with his beloved wife Helen and looking down adoringly on his granddaughters, Erin and Anna, who ranked above anything else with Harry.

Harry’s sons are Tom in Akron and Bob in Copley.

Harry and the late Pat Engelhart, State Desk editor while Harry and I were his assistant editors, taught me more about how to be a good newspaper editor than I had learned in my previous 16 years in the profession. And I was 38 when I came to the BJ, and had worked at the Charleston (West Virginia) Daily Mail, the Dayton (Ohio) Daily and the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times, so pretty fair newspapers, so it wasn't like I was a novice.

Reporters who tried to fake their way through a story learned to regret it. Harry would check the facts himself, then call the reporter over. Woe be the reporter who had NOT checked the facts as well as Harry did.

Pat Englehart, who died in Florida in 1995, was the whirlwind commander; Harry came along and reorganized the debris. Frances B. Murphey, in her bib overalls, completed the legendary trio. Harry joined them, and owner John S. Knight, in That Newspaper in the Sky.

It was the best of times. I ran to work because it was so much fun.

Harry was a fierce Newpaper Guild president. When he slammed the door as he stormed out of a negotiations session with management, the sound was heard all the way to Miami. Harry got his concession for his co-workers.

Harry and Helen are buried in Akron's Holy Cross Cemetery.  Together forever, as they were in life.

RIP, Harry. 

Tell Pat to quit blowing DeNobil cigar smoke in St. Peter’s face and don’t catch the Heavenly waste basket on fire with it.

I know St. Pete doesn’t like it when Fran keeps telling Heaven’s occupants to “go to Hell.” It's just not appropriate any more, particularly when she says it to Petey.