We were saddened learning of the tragic death on a highway in Florida of former broadcaster, travel and entertainment promoter Ed Ible, who was popularly known as the one and only 'Ron-I'.

He got his groove in broadcasting in the1960s at Capital Broadcasting Company's ZFB radio and television stations. That's when we broadcast for two decades from studios on the North Shore Road, Devonshire known as "By-the-Sea", with this writer both News Director and Station Manager.

As an on-air personality he styled himself as 'Ron-I'. He was a pace-setter in waxing lyrics, being a rapper long before it became commonplace locally and elsewhere. He had a community sense of responsibility and volunteered his services to Hope Homes and the Association of Mentally Handicapped in Bermuda

Ed combined his broadcasting talents with his burning entrepreneurial instincts that blossomed among other things into his travel agency and TV production business on Court Street. He moved to Florida following his marriage to the late Maria Benn upon the death of her first husband. Ed acquired his own successful coast-to-coast trucking business there.

It was while driving one of his 18-wheel trucks that he reportedly crashed into a highway guard rail and died on the spot. His mother and other family members were not immediately available for further information at this writing. It is understood that some of his next-of-kin have left Bermuda for Florida.

Ed's death vividly brought to mind when he, Mrs. Ellen Douglas and I comprised a Bermuda delegation attending the 8th World Congress of the International Association of the Scientific Study of Mentally Deficient, held in Dublin, Ireland in October 1988.

Mrs. Douglas was one of the keynote speakers at the Congress in the historic Trinity College. We were treated as celebrities by the Irish.

Upon our return to the island I wrote a feature in the Bermuda Times, noting that "not everyone who visits Dublin gets to see and hear the country's President and to be personally entertained by that historic city's Lord Mayor".

Our picture shows Ed Ible next to the Lord Mayor of Dublin during our visit to Ireland. On the left are Ira Philip and Mrs. Ellen Douglas.