Ronald Hagler

" Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body , but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, throughly worn out and wildly proclaiming "Wow! What a ride"... Hunter S. Thompson Ron's favorite writer My sweet Baboo Ron lived this every day with humor and a keen eye for the unusual and something to tell the story to his viewers.... He was born into quite a family of comedians and he had to be even more humorous to stand out... 5 boys RJ, Russ,Rick,Ron and Ryan...( dad Gene and Mom Janice finally discovered their odds of getting a daughter were the same so stopped at 5) until his folks ( yep his mom deserved sainthood with that brood... but they got daughters in law later and grandsons a granddaughter and great granddaughter too plus step grandkids ... and grand dogs and grand cats and even a grand parrot in the mix) Childhood was fun with a pool at home and epic vacations , holiday celebrations and love... Ron always said he escaped to the military and then college pursuing journalism ... Became a video photojournalist in Toledo them Knoxville Tennessee and ending up in Columbus Ohio at WCMH which became a NBC owned and operated station which would prove to be fortunate ... Meanwhile in Knoxville on a fateful day on a spot news run covering a munitions truck which overturned off a road he ran beautiful interference for a mouthy newspaper photojournalist from the News Sentinel paper so she could evade the police guards worried that the " now ma'm we can't have y'all getting too close..." anyhow she got her photos he got his video and it was love.. he liked Knoxpatch she detested it and both wanted to work in Florida ... meanwhile he got hired in Columbus and she transferred to the Scripps Howard Citizen Journal... bliss for a short time... He proposed on the air during the news one evening and they bought a cute little house.. got a Golden Retriever and moved her two cats in...bought a sailboat ( preparing for goal of running charters in the Florida Keys...) Then while covering a student uprising at THE Ohio State University campus cops were night sticking students during a sit in protest and Ron and the other two network stations were covering it... one of the campus cops saw Ron photographing the cops striking students and hit him on the blind side breaking first Rons head then the heavy TK76 camera and knocked him out... long story short hospital blood brain barrier transgressed and brain bleed... 6 months later visual disturbances back to neurologist to Cleveland for advanced MRI diagnosis Multiple Sclerosis from the blood brain barrier broken and no cure... Thus beginning a long road of hell but fierce determination and that newspaper photojournalist picking up an old career of nurse ... he was sort of stabilized so she, after the CJ folded headed to Florida for a staff position at The Tampa Tribune while he tried to grab a position at either Tampa or Orlando stations but wasn't a great fit.. so a commuter marriage for awhile.. he kept on shooting but it was getting difficult for him so she returned to Columbus leaving her dream job but hey life, huh? Ron went through an experimental course of cytoxin to trick the immune system to square one... didn't work... next a couple of years on Avonex even though it was for relapsing remitting and he had secondary progressive which is the steady slide to total disability... But not all gloom and doom we added a Chesapeake Bay Retriever which drove the sedate Golden nuts... sailed in some great places even on the Chesapeake Bay with some America's cup crew... traveled to boat shows ... spent every vacation moment on an ocean somewhere.. did great assignments to NYC for the dog show, on Riverboat stern wheelers in many helicopter stories, once auto rotating thankfully non crash landing on an expressway median...whew! He managed to hang on working by being an editor when the MS drove him into first a scooter then a wheelchair to have enough years in for a retirement disability and came home to more cats and a Pyrenees assistant dog ( first of several) and an inherited parrot who became his bestie.. Amy his stepdaughter studied art graduated having studied in Scotland met a cool musician named Lance got married and they are soul mates like Ron and I are.... Through all the madness and sadness Ron has maintained his great humor and we hung in there keeping it on course adjusting the sails as needed...he always faced each day with a smile and love of life ... Ron is survived by Mary his wife ( and still mouthy photojournalist ) of 36 years , step daughter and her husband Amy and Lance Duvendack-Hulsey, mother Janice Hagler, brothers Randolph (Dawn) Hagler her son James,Russell (Cat) his sons Jordan and Justin Hagler, Richard Hagler his daughter Holly and her daughter Harlow, and Ryan Hagler ( Bonnye and her daughter Brooke and family) Yeh it's been a great sail following the songlines keeping it on course... -30-

Ronald Hagler

July 14, 1963 - June 8, 2020