TV personality was at WHIO 3 decades

By Margo Rutledge Kissell
e-mail address: margo_kissell@coxohio.com
Dayton Daily News

Local television personality and environmentalist Jim L. Sweeney, best known for his Sunday morning community affairs program on WHIO-TV, died Thursday. He was 72.

His work at WHIO-TV spanned three decades.

For many years, Mr. Sweeney produced and hosted WHIO Reports, a forum for local officials to discuss issues that ranged from education to legal matters.

“He tried to invite people who were in the news or in front of the news,” the station’s general manager, Harry Delaney, said Friday.

Mr. Sweeney interviewed governors, senators, members of Congress, local officials and ordinary residents throughout his career. He continued to co-host the weekly program until his retirement in December.

Mr. Sweeney also served as a community consultant to seven general managers at the station, where he also had been an editorial consultant.

“He was the elder statesman here,” Delaney said.

Mr. Sweeney, an entrepreneur and humanitarian, received numerous civil and social awards.

He was an organizer of the Southwest Montgomery County Environmental League, a group that opposed the Stony Hollow landfill in southwest Dayton.

Mr. Sweeney, a graduate of Case Western Reserve University, served during the Korean War as a paratrooper in one of the first integrated units with the 82nd Airborne.

He retired from the Defense Electronic Supply Center, where he had been chief of the Organization Mission Control Division.

Mr. Sweeney is survived by his wife, Marion; and two sons, John Sweeney of Los Angeles and James Sweeney Jr. of Atlanta.

Visitation will be from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday at the McLin Funeral Chapel-Northern Hills, 2801 N. Gettysburg Ave. During that time, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and Dayton Chapter of the Links Inc. will conduct special services.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 3012 McCall St., with burial in Dayton National Cemetery.

• Contact Margo Rutledge Kissell at 225-2094 or by e-mail at margo_kissell@coxohio.com

[From the Dayton Daily News: 05.11.2002]

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