Ron McCrea, an award-winning journalist who worked 20 years at The Capital Times, died of cancer Saturday at Agrace Hospice in Fitchburg. He was 76.
Born on Jan. 30, 1943, in Saginaw, Mich., to Malcom R. McCrea and Eleanor Lombard McCrea, Ron came from a long line of newspapermen, according to his Cap Times obituary. His grandfather, Archie E. McCrea, was editor of the Muskegon (Mich.) Chronicle, and his father served as editorial page editor of the Saginaw News and associate editor of the Toledo Blade.
McCrea earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Albion College in Michigan before going on to earn a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He also spent time in graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
In 1970, McCrea started his first stint at The Capital Times as a wire editor and political reporter. He remained there until 1977, when the local newspaper unions went on strike. McCrea served as a strike leader and helped organize the Press Connection “strike paper,” where he worked for three years until it ceased publication.
- RELATED: Ron McCrea, former Cap Times city editor and Frank Lloyd Wright expert, dies at 76
- RELATED: Ron McCrea’s robust and enthusiastic humanity enriched us all
Following his time at the strike paper, McCrea took a job with the San Jose Mercury-News before returning to Madison in 1983 to serve at Gov. Tony Earl’s press secretary. Three years later, when Earl lost his re-election bid to Tommy Thompson, McCrea joined New York Newsday and remained there until the newspaper shuttered in 1995.
Following the closure, McCrea returned to The Capital Times, hired by longtime editor and Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame member Dave Zweifel to serve as the newspaper’s city editor. He remained in the role for the next decade, until being promoted to senior news editor in 2006. He retired two years later, when the newspaper transitioned from six days in print to a digital-first publication.
McCrea also served as an Alicia Patterson Fellow in 1975 and worked on the news desks of the Washington Post, Washington Star and Boston Globe. Following his retirement, he became a nationally-known expert on architect Frank Lloyd Wright and in 2012 published the book “Building Taliesin: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Home of Love and Loss.”
McCrea’s obituary notes he had battled various forms of cancer since 2007, when he had a successful liver transplant. Last month, McCrea told family and friends that his cancer had returned and he was declining to undergo chemotherapy.
McCrea is survived by his wife, Elaine, and his stepson, Benjamin. A memorial gathering will be held in the late afternoon on Thursday, Jan. 30, in The Evjue Commons at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, 3330 Atwood Ave., Madison.
