Category: Obit

Larry Weathers Jr.  died yesterday, Jan. 6, 21 months after being diagnosed with  metastatic melanoma. He was 80.

Mr. Weathers was the proprietor of Weathers Motors the auto dealership at 1187 Baltimore Pike, Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pa.

It was started as Weathers Dodge in 1922 by his father, Lawrence Sr., on land next to his family’s grocery store. It remained a Dodge dealership until May 2009 when Chrysler — with the federal government now holding a significant stake in it — announced that franchise agreements wouldn’t be renewed with 789 dealerships nationwide.

Rather than fold, Mr. Weathers and his son, Lawrence III, turned it into Weathers Motors, which has become a very highly regarded auto repair shop and dealer of used vehicles.

R.I.P. Mr. Weathers.

Larry Weathers R.I.P.

Smokin’ Joe R.I.P. — Joe Frazier, one-time heavyweight champion of the world, died last night, Nov. 7. He was 67 and had liver cancer.

Here is my personal remembrance.

Sometime around the turn of the millennium I was a participant in the Haverford Township Day Parade and I had brought my dog with me to join me on the float. Well, she got loose at the staging ground and as I chased her around the Manoa Shopping Center, I heard myself being serenaded with “Who Let The Dogs Out.”

I looked to see who was doing the singing and lo and behold it was The Champ himself who was also part of the parade.

Somewhere, there is a picture of me and The Champ who graciously consented to pose and had a big grin.

R.I.P. Joe.

 

Smokin’ Joe R.I.P.

Written on a five-year-old MacBook Pro.

Joey Vento R.I.P. — Joey Vento, the owner of Geno’s Steaks in South Philadelphia and a Tea Party supporter, died yesterday, Aug. 23, at his Shamong, N. J., home of a heart attack. He was 71.

Mr. Vento opened Geno’s Steaks at 9th Street and Passyunk Avenue in 1966 and began what became a nationally famous competition with the long-established Pat’s King of Steaks across the street.

Mr. Vento became a political figure when Mumia Abu Jamal, who murdered Philadelphia police officer Danny Faulkner n 1981,  became a pet cause of the mindless yet fashion-conscience leftist establishment that tried to convince the world that Jamal was a innocent victim of a police frame. Mr. Vento helped keep the memory of Officer Faulkner alive and helped keep the focus on the overwhelming evidence of Jamal’s guilt.

Mr. Vento became a national figure after placing a sign in his window saying “This is America: When ordering please speak English” which prompted a discrimination complaint from the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations in 2006.

Unlike most business owners, Mr. Vento stood up to the bullies and the Commission caved two years later with a finding that the restaurant was not in violation of the city’s laws.

An irony rarely mentioned is that Geno’s is adjacent to a Mexican restaurant that is covered in signs in the Spanish language.

Mr. Vento became active in the Tea Party movement and produced popular radio advertisements criticizing  Sen. Arlen Specter and non-enforcement of immigration laws.

“Joey was a great supporter of our Tea Party group and the Tea Party movement,” said Teri Adams, president of the Independence Hall Tea Party Association. “He was the most beloved conservative figure regionally and was well known and well respected nationally. We lost a one-of-kind hero who told it like it was and leaves a tremendous void. He was such a good man. Our hearts are broken!”

Mr. Vento practically died on the job. He had gone to the restaurant  yesterday morning as he normally did and phoned in a bread order from his home at 6 p.m. He told his wife, Eileen, he wasn’t feeling well then went to lie down in the bedroom, where he was found.

Mr. Vento is also survived by a son, Geno, for whom the restaurant is named.

 Joey Vento R.I.P.