"30" FOR MICKEY PORTER, FAMED BJ COLUMNIST WHO PASSED AWAY FRIDAY

Mickey Porter, one of the best columnists in BJ history, passed away Friday, March 18. He would have been 85 in May.

Bill O’Connor, a pretty good columnist and feature writer himself at the BJ, gave me the sad news. Bill’s post to me:

“Mickey suffered a few minor strokes over the past few years, but a major one about a year ago that left him paralyzed on one side, and made it difficult to talk. Since then, he's been bed-ridden at home.

“He often spoke with great fondness and humor about our days at the Beacon. I don't know about services yet. Mickey discouraged them.

“I'll be sitting down with his son, Mike, soon and will let you know if there's anything further. His other son, Ben, of course, will be arriving. Ben's son Jack, a toddler, and his daughter Leyla, an infant, are Mick's two grandchildren.

“Mike's wife is Amy, Ben's is Natalie. Mike, who works in financial services, lives in Colorado. Ben, a lawyer, in North Carolina. Mick's wife, Suzy, died a few years ago. As you probably know she, too, once worked at the Beacon and was a good reporter.”

Mickey retired after 40 years at the BJ in 2006 on the day that 24 left 44 E. Exchange Street jobs forever with their combined 335 years of newspaper experience. In 2016 the BJ lost more than 500 years of experience in another mass exodus. In 2001 492 years of experience said bye-bye BJ on one day. By the time the exits ran out of bodies more than 2,000 years of experience was lost, including my 43 years, 26 at the BJ.

His columns, which went by Mickey at Large and Porter’s People, depending on the decade, were read and enjoyed by nearly everyone who got the BJ.

In 2015 Mickey surfaced in a story by BJ business writer Betty Lin-Fisher about FirstMerit Corporation closing 16 bank branches. Mickey gave FirstMerit a major demerit because it closed the Copley branch where Mickey banked for 50 years.

Mickey, like so many of us, frequently showed up at BJ reunions on the late chief artist Bud Morris’ farm in Medina County. That was before Bud and wife Joan moved to Lillian, Alabama, where Joan had relatives, after his BJ retirement. Bud passed away in 2000, Joan in 2010. Bud came up with the name of Channels, the TV guide that I gave birth to in 1980.

Mickey’s wife, Suzanne, retired as a lawyer for the Scanlong and Gearinger law firm.

Mickey lead the founding of the Akron Press Club in 1971. He also played on the Beacon Bombers softball team which was aptly named because it bombed in most of its games. I at times helped them lose.

Sharon Shreve Lorentzen, the famous Farkle who put the sparkle in the BJ, once decribed Mickey as "the best there. Funny, sardonic, so intelligent. He was ahead of his time. And a pretty good bowler, too."

Sounds like the Mickey I knew.