Jack Ellsworth (Kevin Spencer photo) |
Jack Ellsworth (real name Ellswroth Shiebler), a World War
II veteran and former radio station owner who played big-band music over the
Long Island airwaves for more than half a century, died Thursday at Brookhaven
Memorial Hospital Medical Center.
He was 91 and, according to Newsday, died from renal failure,
almost two months after his wife and business partner of 61 years, Dorothy
Shiebler, died on July 16, his son Glenn Shiebler, of Wrentham , Mass. ,
said.
"He really died of a broken heart," Shiebler said.
"They were inseparable."
The two ran the independent radio station WLIM 1580 AM
together from 1981 to 2001. He played the likes of Frank Sinatra and Benny
Goodman and broadcast news. After they sold the Patchogue station, he moved his
show to WALK1370 AM. Ellsworth, who became known as the "Silver Fox,"
performed his final radio show on Aug. 1.
His radio career encompassed different roles at various Long Island radio stations: from disc jockey, to
president and general manager, to owner.
"I loved doing it and loved keeping the music alive
because it's so good, it has to be heard," Ellsworth told the Long Island
Advance earlier this year.
Looking back at his life in broadcasting in his memoir,
"Memories in Melody: A Lifetime of Experiences from the Golden Era of
Popular Music," published last year, he wrote that in a time of continual
change it's important to value everyday experiences.
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