[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 21, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S432-S433]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING RONALD ``RON'' McCREA

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a distinguished 
citizen of Wisconsin, Ronald Alan McCrea, who passed away in Madison on 
Dec. 14, 2019. McCrea's career included praiseworthy journalism, 
architectural scholarship on Frank Lloyd Wright, and gay activism.
  Ron McCrea came from a family of journalists. His grandfather, Archie 
McCrea, was editor of the Muskegon Chronicle in Michigan, and his 
father was an editor for the Saginaw News and Toledo Blade. Ron began 
his journalism career editing his high school paper, the Arthur Hill 
News. He would also edit the Albion College Pleiad. He worked at the 
Boston Globe, the Washington Post, the Washington Star, the Long Island 
Newsday, and the San Jose Mercury News. Ron was one of the outstanding 
journalists in Madison, where he served as an editor and reporter at 
the Capital Times from 1970 to 1977 and again from 1998 to 2008. While 
in Madison, he was also an editor of the Press Connection from 1977 to 
1980, the paper that emerged from a newspaper strike that he helped 
lead.
  Ron graduated from Albion College in 1965 with a B.A. in political 
science. He was awarded an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and 
Diplomacy at Tufts University and did further graduate work at the 
Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
  His gay activism began in the early 1970s when he joined the 
Wisconsin's first gay rights organization, the Madison Alliance for 
Homosexual Equality, MAHE, which was founded in the fall of 1969 after 
the Stonewall Riots. Ron participated in panels that the early Gay 
Center sent out to classes on the University of Wisconsin-Madison 
campus. In line with his labor activism, he successfully lobbied for 
the Newspaper Guild to include nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual 
orientation in its model contract used throughout the Nation.
  When elected in 1982, Governor Anthony Earl asked Ron to serve as his 
press secretary. Because of his advocacy, one of the State's major 
papers headlined the appointment of an ``Avowed Homosexual.'' Earl 
refused McCrea's offer to withdraw the appointment as too 
controversial.

[[Page S433]]

  During his journalism career, Ron McCrea became the chronicler of 
some unique LGBT history in the Madison area. One of his earliest 
efforts included stories on the hidden 1962 Gay Purge at the UW-
Madison. He also contributed many unique items to the LGBT Collection 
of the UW-Madison Archives.
  Ron loved a good story and entertained many of his friends with his 
delightful skill in presenting a tale. He had a deep love of music and 
was known for singing with Madison choral groups and tripping the 
ivories at the piano bar at Going My Way.
  Ron is survived by his wife of 26 years, Elaine DeSmidt, and his 
stepson, Benjamin DeSmidt. Elaine, described as his partner, passion 
and love, was also involved in public life as an elected member of the 
Dane County Board of Supervisors.
  Ron McCrea was an accomplished storyteller, a humorous character, and 
a courageous pioneer. He leaves behind a legacy of humble but bold 
encouragement of the gay community. I am proud to honor his unflinching 
advocacy, personal kindness, and steadfast leadership.

                          ____________________