Ray Hart dies

Friday, April 24, 2009
Grant Segall
Plain Dealer Reporter
Ray Hart seemed to have spies everywhere.
"He had a scoop every day," said Bill Hickey, Hart's longtime partner in covering TV and radio for The Plain Dealer. "He drove the Press nuts."
Hart died April 14 at Fisher Titus Medical Cen ter, near his home in Nor walk. He was 80.
Hart spent about 32 years at The Plain Dealer, starting as a school sports reporter and winding up as a features copy editor. But the big, quiet, cheerful man was best known for a long stint in between with TV and radio.
He was born in North Canton and graduated from Hoover High School there. He spent a few years living in Canal Fulton and working for his father's meat and meat locker business.
"Ray hated every minute of it," his wife, the former Joan Dimpsey, recalled Tuesday.
Hart briefly studied undertaking in Indiana, then came home and found his life's work. He covered the region's acclaimed school sports for six years with the Canton Repository and several with The Plain Dealer.
Then he covered TV and radio with equal enthusiasm. He hit it off with touchy stars such as Dorothy Fuldheim and went fishing with a few of them.
In a sometimes slovenly profession, he favored a tie and jacket. He also smoked a pipe for many years. The doctor finally told him to cut down. Hart quit cold turkey.
He broke another longtime habit last year. He missed his first Ohio basketball championship in 56 years.
"He thought 55 was a good place to stop," said his widow.
Hart retired from The Plain Dealer in 1993 and edited stories for the Sun Newspapers.
In 1997, the couple moved to Norwalk to be near their daughter, Karen. There he wrote and announced for WLKR FM/95.3 and edited the bulletin of First Presbyterian Church.