Ronnie was the fourth of her nine siblings to enter McDevitt, where she brought an artsier, humanities-based Polaneczky vibe - which was

distinctly different from her three older sibs at McDevitt. One of them went on to become an engineer and military pilot, another became a doctor, and another became a businesswoman.  And then there was Ronnie, the writer, the wordsmith.

After graduation, she went to Temple as an English major and wasn’t sure what she’d do with it - until her senior year. That’s when she did an internship at Philadelphia magazine, and finally realized that - oh! - she was a storyteller. And that was it, she was off to the races. She stayed on at the magazine as a junior editor, then went on to become:

• a reporter at the Philadelphia City Paper

• a freelance writer for national magazines

• the editor in chief of Atlantic City magazine

• and, finally, a metro columnist and editor for 23 years at The Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer.

This is where she really hit her professional stride and became a known “name” in the city, winning local and national journalism awards for her work. Throughout her career, she celebrated, honored and protected the everyday humanity of everyday people - and also righted wrongs by taking powerful people to task. And she did it in ways that elevated the city’s spirit and explained its complexities in ways that were informed by her own:

•insatiable curiosity

•relentless commitment to fairness

•twisted humor

•hard-won wisdom

•and deepest affection for the people and city she loved.

Her crowning professional achievement was receiving a coveted Eugene Pulliam Journalism Fellowship to create her powerhouse, four-part investigative series, “Falling Off the Cliff.” It told the invisible stories of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and what happens to them and their parents as they age into adulthood and well beyond. The series won countless journalism awards and cemented Ronnie’s legacy as a journalist whose work matters because it changes minds by changing hearts. Ronnie is a superb storyteller whose body of work has managed to do something remarkable: It captures the:

•beautiful

•honorable

•funny

•heartbreaking

•collective

and totally messy condition of simply being human and trying to do the best we can with who we are, where we are, and what we’ve got. Ronnie’s work exemplifies the best among us, and the best within us. And Ronnie herself exemplifies the best of the McDevitt spirit among and within us all.

I am so proud to be her fellow Lancer - and prouder still to be her friend.