Two friends gone

The state rankings will be out shortly, but first I have to pause to mourn the passing of two friends, both of whom died the weekend.

The first was an absolute shock. Barry Fox, 47, was one of my closest friends (along with his wife, Jeannette Krebs) on the news side of The Patriot-News. He died after suffering a heart attack while biking near the Centre Hall Grange Fair grounds where his family was vacationing. (Jeannette is a Centre Hall native.)

Barry was an avid biker, and he was as fit as a 47-year-old man could be, thus the shock. He was engaging, warm, hilarious and professional; you pick the order because I can’t. He was an outstanding reporter and a better husband and father. You hear that all of the time, but I know this as fact, not opinion.

Barry left The Patriot-News in 2005 to become the deputy director of the state’s Office of Open Records, established after passage of a revamped Open Meetings Law. He was every bit as good at that job as he was as a reporter. He was a wonderful man; I was pleased to count him among my friends.

His passing is painful for his colleagues, but devastating to his family; he and Jeannette have two young daughters. The Patriot-News story on his passing is here.

On Saturday, another acquaintance, Uniontown principal Rich Constantine, 63, passed away after a long battle with cancer. I had grown to know Rich in his role as the WPIAL president and member of the PIAA Board of Directors. Rich was an outstanding athlete; he was selected to the 1965 Big 33 football team and was a PIAA wrestling runner-up the same year.

I didn’t know Rich nearly as well as Barry, but I found Rich to be a gentle, engaging person. As a PIAA board member, he fought fiercely to protect the WPIAL’s interest when they were threatened (in the WPIAL’s view), but was also thoughtful and considerate of the other districts as well.

Rich’s obituary from the Uniontown Herald-Standard is here.

What a sad weekend.