Ray Nearhood, an experienced government administrator who was in a coma since an Aug. 13 car crash that occurred during his campaign to the state House of Representatives, died Wednesday at Regional Hospital of Scranton.
He was 61.
Mr. Nearhood, of South Scranton, had served in several municipalities throughout the state during his career, including Nanticoke, Easton, Altoona and townships in Bucks and Dauphin counties.
Mr. Nearhood also had been a senior researcher with Pennsylvania Economy League, a nonprofit organization that the state designates to assist financially-distressed cities. It was in this capacity in the early 1990s when Mr. Nearhood was one of the architects of Scranton's first Act 47 recovery plan, recalled PEL Executive Director Gerald Cross.
Mr. Nearhood was steeped in municipal nuts-and-bolts administration, said Mr. Cross, who knew Mr. Nearhood since 1977.
"He was well-traveled and well-respected," Mr. Cross said.
Former Nanticoke Mayor John Bushko, who was a councilman there when Mr. Nearhood was employed by that city, also fondly recalled Mr. Nearhood.
"He was an easy guy to work with. He was a knowledgeable guy and always willing to do anything you asked him," Mr. Bushko said. "He was top of the line and knew what he was doing. With me, he was aces."
Mr. Nearhood was the Republican nominee last year in an election to represent the 112th legislative district that includes Dunmore, Moscow, parts of East Scranton and South Scranton, and Clifton, Covington, Elmhurst, Madison, Roaring Brook and Thornhurst townships. He had earned the GOP nomination in a write-in campaign and was running against Democrat Kevin Haggerty when the car crash occurred. Mr. Haggerty went on to win the election in November.
Described as a fiscal conservative and constitutional originalist, Mr. Nearhood was the type of candidate who could knock on a voter's door and spend 90 minutes discussing the policy intricacies of his plans and proposals, said his campaign chairman in that race, Kenneth Anderson, Sr. As campaign chairman, Mr. Anderson said he dealt mostly with fundraising while Mr. Nearhood focused on campaigning.
"He was pretty much a one-man band. He was very much running the campaign himself. Hours and hours and hours he went door-to-door talking to people. That was Ray," Mr. Anderson said. "He wasn't a gladhander. He would go door-to-door and stop in someone's living room he never met before and talk for an hour-and-a-half."
A former city manager of Altoona, Mr. Nearhood also had served as an interim city administrator of Nanticoke and general municipal authority administrator of Nanticoke. He also had been a township manager in Bensalem Twp. and Falls Twp. in Fairless Hills , both in Bucks County; a business administrator in Easton; and planning and zoning officer for Lower Paxton Twp. in Dauphin County.
Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com