by JeffK
From the Daily News:
"RONALD DEGRAW never stopped working. Even on vacation, he soaked himself in the overriding passion of his life - public transportation.
Since childhood when he rode the high-speed train to Norristown with his father, a motorman for the old Philadelphia & Western, to his long career as a SEPTA official, transit was his life blood.
He was also the author of two well-received books on Philadelphia suburban lines, with a third due out shortly, and spoke frequently with various organizations about transit.
Part of his passion was to try to convince often reluctant and penny-pinching suburban governments of the importance of public transportation.
He died Monday of complications from a stroke. He was 63 and lived in King of Prussia.
DeGraw's home was filled with toy soldiers and train sets. He was in the process of building a model-train layout in his attic when he became ill. His wife, the former Karin Hofmann, a native of Germany, said that when they visited Europe, they never rented a car. They rode the trains. "We visited depots, talked to motormen," she said. "He never left his job. He lived and breathed transit."
Ron was born in Upper Darby to Harry DeGraw and the former Marion Gable. He graduated from Upper Darby High School and went to work, first as a copy boy, then as a reporter for the old Evening Bulletin while attending college.
After his graduation in 1965, he joined the Inquirer and became the paper's transit writer. Among the stories he covered was SEPTA's takeover of the PTC. In 1970, when SEPTA bought the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co., commonly called Red Arrow, he joined SEPTA as director of development for the Red Arrow division.
During his career with the transit agency, he was responsible for a number of innovations that made life easier for suburban riders. Before DeGraw joined SEPTA, commuters who took more than one type of transportation often had to wait long periods for the next vehicle. He instituted a "timed-transfer" system that coordinated the arrivals of trains or buses to reduce the waiting time. The system is still in use. "His purpose was to make suburban public transportation user-friendly," his wife said.
After retiring from SEPTA in 1996, he served as a hearing examiner for the agency, taking testimony on rate-hike and service-cut proposals.
He also worked on a number of projects for Gannett Fleming Inc., an international engineer- consulting firm. He worked with agencies nationwide to improve their public-transit systems, including those in San Francisco, New Orleans, Albuquerque and others.
His first book, "Red Arrow," a coffee-table-type book jammed with historical and current photos of trolleys and trains, was published in 1972. It covered suburban transit from 1848 to 1948. It is such a collector's item today that it is selling on the Internet for $450.
The second book took Red Arrow up to its takeover by SEPTA. A third book, "The Pig and Whistle," tells the story of the Philadelphia & Western high-speed line to Norristown. It is officially Route 100, but was popularly called the P&W, resulting in the "Pig and Whistle" nickname.
DeGraw was a longtime member of the Upper Merion Library Board, and was on the parish-relations committee of the Wayne United Methodist Church.
"He was a gentleman, a gentle gentleman," his wife said. "He was very caring, truthful and trustworthy. All the people who knew him had nothing but good to say about him."
He also is survived by a stepson, Robert Lance Jr., and a brother, Rick."
I'm proud to say I knew Ron for two decades. He was a big man in every way, a gentle giant with a passion for books, for public transit, and for traction above all other forms. We shared interests in trolleys, learning, travel, good writing, good food, and for "getting it right". We didn't always agree (sorry, my friend, trolleys aren't the answer for the SVM) but I could never dismiss anything he said. It's not too much to say that his work with APTA and other transit groups was among the driving forces in reviving light rail in the U.S.
Knowing Ron, he's already gathered Frank Beach, the Brills and Taylors, Allan Rice and a few others in a Bullet and they've got the controller wide open.
"RONALD DEGRAW never stopped working. Even on vacation, he soaked himself in the overriding passion of his life - public transportation.
Since childhood when he rode the high-speed train to Norristown with his father, a motorman for the old Philadelphia & Western, to his long career as a SEPTA official, transit was his life blood.
He was also the author of two well-received books on Philadelphia suburban lines, with a third due out shortly, and spoke frequently with various organizations about transit.
Part of his passion was to try to convince often reluctant and penny-pinching suburban governments of the importance of public transportation.
He died Monday of complications from a stroke. He was 63 and lived in King of Prussia.
DeGraw's home was filled with toy soldiers and train sets. He was in the process of building a model-train layout in his attic when he became ill. His wife, the former Karin Hofmann, a native of Germany, said that when they visited Europe, they never rented a car. They rode the trains. "We visited depots, talked to motormen," she said. "He never left his job. He lived and breathed transit."
Ron was born in Upper Darby to Harry DeGraw and the former Marion Gable. He graduated from Upper Darby High School and went to work, first as a copy boy, then as a reporter for the old Evening Bulletin while attending college.
After his graduation in 1965, he joined the Inquirer and became the paper's transit writer. Among the stories he covered was SEPTA's takeover of the PTC. In 1970, when SEPTA bought the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co., commonly called Red Arrow, he joined SEPTA as director of development for the Red Arrow division.
During his career with the transit agency, he was responsible for a number of innovations that made life easier for suburban riders. Before DeGraw joined SEPTA, commuters who took more than one type of transportation often had to wait long periods for the next vehicle. He instituted a "timed-transfer" system that coordinated the arrivals of trains or buses to reduce the waiting time. The system is still in use. "His purpose was to make suburban public transportation user-friendly," his wife said.
After retiring from SEPTA in 1996, he served as a hearing examiner for the agency, taking testimony on rate-hike and service-cut proposals.
He also worked on a number of projects for Gannett Fleming Inc., an international engineer- consulting firm. He worked with agencies nationwide to improve their public-transit systems, including those in San Francisco, New Orleans, Albuquerque and others.
His first book, "Red Arrow," a coffee-table-type book jammed with historical and current photos of trolleys and trains, was published in 1972. It covered suburban transit from 1848 to 1948. It is such a collector's item today that it is selling on the Internet for $450.
The second book took Red Arrow up to its takeover by SEPTA. A third book, "The Pig and Whistle," tells the story of the Philadelphia & Western high-speed line to Norristown. It is officially Route 100, but was popularly called the P&W, resulting in the "Pig and Whistle" nickname.
DeGraw was a longtime member of the Upper Merion Library Board, and was on the parish-relations committee of the Wayne United Methodist Church.
"He was a gentleman, a gentle gentleman," his wife said. "He was very caring, truthful and trustworthy. All the people who knew him had nothing but good to say about him."
He also is survived by a stepson, Robert Lance Jr., and a brother, Rick."
I'm proud to say I knew Ron for two decades. He was a big man in every way, a gentle giant with a passion for books, for public transit, and for traction above all other forms. We shared interests in trolleys, learning, travel, good writing, good food, and for "getting it right". We didn't always agree (sorry, my friend, trolleys aren't the answer for the SVM) but I could never dismiss anything he said. It's not too much to say that his work with APTA and other transit groups was among the driving forces in reviving light rail in the U.S.
Knowing Ron, he's already gathered Frank Beach, the Brills and Taylors, Allan Rice and a few others in a Bullet and they've got the controller wide open.
