Ronald H. Bailey, a former longtime resident of the town of Meredith, passed away March 29, 2025, in LaFayette. Born Oct. 14, 1934, he was 90. Ron was a dedicated husband to his wife of nearly 68 years, Sue, a supportive father to four children, beloved “Gramps” to seven grandchildren, author of 14 non-fiction books, a senior editor and director of photography for LIFE Magazine, school board member and president for the Delhi Central School system board, Meredith town board member, a master gardener and a lifelong sports fan.
Ron was directly involved with many seminal events of the 1960s. He covered astronauts Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and others for LIFE, reported on the trial of Jack Ruby, participated in the “Turnaround Tuesday” Selma March with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and served as interim LIFE Saigon Bureau Chief during the Vietnam War.
He is survived by his wife, Sue Heskamp Bailey of LaFayette, and his four children: Eliza Bailey of LaFayette; Reade Bailey (Karen) of Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Benjamin Bailey (Julia) of Amherst, Massachusetts; and Rebecca Bailey of LaFayette. His seven grandchildren are Keegan Mulholland (Shayna) of Manlius; Dr. Jamus Mulholland (Monica) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Talia Rueschemeyer-Bailey of Chicago, Illinois; Logan Bailey of Bloomington, Minnesota; Solomon Rueschemeyer-Bailey of New York City; Sawyer Bailey of Eden Prairie, Minnesota; and Noe Rueschemeyer-Bailey of Amherst, Massachusetts.
Ron was born October 14, 1934, in Middletown, Ohio, the only child of Norman and Rose Bailey. He grew up in the small town of Franklin, Ohio, where he played basketball and tennis on his school teams, worked summers at a local steel plant, was sports editor of his high school newspaper and covered sports for the Franklin Chronicle weekly newspaper.
He attended the Ohio State University, where he majored in journalism. There he met Sue Heskamp, a beautiful, dark-haired member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, his senior year of college when she was a features writer for the Lantern and he was the editor.
Ron and Sue were married June 8, 1957, in Lakewood, Ohio. Soon after their wedding, Ron entered Army basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. After his military stint was over, Ron continued working for the Cleveland Plain Dealer as a reporter and was also a part-time correspondent for LIFE Magazine.
He was hired full-time by LIFE in 1959 and worked in the New York City office and Chicago and Houston bureaus. He worked his way up the ranks to be director of photography.
In 1972, a few months before LIFE folded, Ron, Sue and their children moved from Manhattan to an abandoned farmhouse and 120 acres on a dirt road in the town of Meredith, a half-mile from the nearest neighbors. They renovated the house, doing much of the work themselves, and Ron began a career as a self-employed, free-lance writer.
Ron’s cozy first-floor office was lined with books and heated by a wood stove. His books, most of them for Time-Life, included four on World War II, three on the Civil War, a history of West Point and a history of Hartwick College. In 1999, he received an honorary PhD from Hartwick. Ron contributed to an additional 100 books and various magazines. He also wrote a series of personal columns for The Reporter in the 2000s, called “Just a Minute,” that covered everything from his time as a Vietnam War correspondent to his Ohio childhood.
He loved living in the country and immersed himself in the fabric of the community. Ron was a firefighter and ambulance squad member for the all-volunteer Meridale department. He was an elected member of the school board for the Delhi central school system from 1977 to 1992, including serving as board president. He was also an elected member of the town of Meredith board from 2008 to 2015 and served on the West Kortright Centre board for many years.
Ron loved sports. For decades, he was a fixture in the stands or on the sidelines at Delaware Academy basketball and football games, and cross-country and track meets. Ron was a lifelong Ohio State Buckeyes football fan. In later years, after moving to LaFayette near Syracuse in 2017, he was a season ticketholder for Syracuse University Orange football and basketball. He attended dozens of games, including the Syracuse-Duke basketball contest just weeks before his passing.
Ron loved his children and grandchildren and the yearly summer and Christmas gatherings with them, hosted at the old farmhouse in Meredith. His traditions included cooking pancakes for the grandchildren, supervising the making of hand-cranked ice cream and donning a Santa hat to fill the stockings hung on the railing of the steep staircase.
A celebration of life will be held Oct. 11 at the May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society in Syracuse.
