Ron Neumer

I guess you could say I am your basic regular Philly Guy. A real city person who has some knowledge about the sounds of the city and what goes on there. I don’t think living in a small town would do it for me. I grew up on the 4600 block of Melrose Street in the Frankford section of Philadelphia. There was a church down the street, just row-houses between our house and the church, and the church bells would ring out twice daily, once at noon and at six in the evening. I learned to play chess on the steps of the church with my friend, Tommy Gross. My dad was a plumber at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and my mother was a stay-at-home Mom instilling great values in me and my brothers Ralph, Robert and Rick. Our social gathering place was hanging out in front of a corner grocery store with the other guys from the neighborhood. It’s a real city thing. Some of the guys who hung on the corner are friends of mine to this day.

I graduated from Father Judge High School and I attended Pierce Business College and Community College of Philadelphia. My favorite subjects were English and Creative Writing. I guess that started when I was a kid buying comic books and sport magazines at the corner variety store with money I earned on my newspaper route. Also, my Uncle Ted was an English teacher and he explained Macbeth for me. My first job was mapping streets for the City of Philadelphia. The salary was really bad so I left. For years I was in retail management in Center City Philadelphia and I developed into a real people person. I always say I walked in off the street to become a newspaper reporter and columnist. It happened this way. I took an article I wrote about an art exhibit to the editor of a newspaper that covered Northeast Philadelphia. He liked it, and he printed it and I went on from there. One achievement I am proud of is winning a Philadelphia Press Association award for a tragic story I wrote. To win an award from the prestigious association was indeed uplifting. I am grateful to my former editor, Don Brennan, for helping me achieve the things I did. Writing is a great profession to be in.