Former National Press Club Newsmaker Committee chair, Ron Baygents, passes away at 70
Former National Press Club Newsmakers Committee Chair Ron Baygents passed away from colon cancer in Ocala, Florida, on May 18. He was 70.
Baygents was a Club member for nearly 20 years, serving on both the Newsmakers and Speakers Committees.
Ronald Macon Baygents was born June 26, 1953, in Macon, Georgia.
After graduating from the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications in 1975, during a nationwide recession, Baygents embarked on a road trip “out West.” He fell in love with California and later returned to the state, spending 14 years at the San Jose Mercury News as a reporter and editor on the state, metro, national and foreign desks during an era when the newspaper won two Pulitzer Prizes.
Baygents began his career as a reporter at the Stuart News and the Ocala-Star-Banner in Florida and the Dispatch in Lexington, North Carolina, winning statewide and regional awards for his work. He travelled to Plains, Georgia, on Christmas Day 1977 to cover then-President Jimmy Carter for the Star-Banner as he answered reporters’ questions about the Middle East peace process, and returned to Plains several times in subsequent years to hear Carter speak.
Returning to the East Coast from California in the late 1990s, Ron served as editor of the Hopewell News and managing editor of the Manassas Journal Messenger in Virginia. He finished out his career as Washington correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency, serving as interim bureau chief on several occasions.
In Washington, he covered the White House, State Department and Pentagon. He attended and covered the G-7 Summit at Sea Island, Georgia in 2004 and the Democratic and Republican national conventions in 2008 and 2012. A press trip to Kosovo was another highlight of this time.
Baygents had a talent for spotting members of various presidential administrations out and about in Washington, at the grocery store, restaurants or on the bus, and engaging them in conversation.
A lifelong music lover and inveterate concertgoer, his family said Baygents had many entertaining tales to tell and an encyclopedic knowledge of the music catalog of the era, particularly classic rock. He was proud to have seen Gainesville native Tom Petty perform on the lawn at the University of Florida before his music career took off.
Baygents was a vocal supporter of the university’s athletic teams (Gators), and remained close to his UF fraternity brothers, as well as other lifelong friends.
Enchanted by the natural world, Baygents loved beaches, mountains, the Caribbean and the national parks, and enjoyed canoeing, water skiing, swimming and fishing in the freshwater springs of Florida across more than 50 years.
Baygents was a fan of the Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants, Tampa Bay Rays and Atlanta Braves baseball teams, and the Miami Dolphins football team, taking his children with him to many games.
In addition to his partner, Nancy Donaldson, children: Sara Baygents (Marshall Richards) of Leesburg, Virginia, and Cyrus Baygents of Boston, and their mothers (Linda Werfelman, Lucy Chumbley), survivors include his brother, Gerald Baygents (Kathy) of North Augusta, South Carolina; sister, Irma Jean Roberts (Gerry) of Noosa, Queensland, Australia; and their families. He was preceded in death by his father, Eubert Macon Baygents, and mother, Labertice Jiachetti (Vic).