Bernard J. Scally, 33, reporter who 'cared deeply' about Roxborough

ONE OF Bernie Scally's last assignments as a reporter was the annual Dance on the Falls Bridge on Sept. 19, a 5-year-old community get-together featuring music, food, fellowship and, of course, dancing.

You can be sure that Bernie stood out from the crowd, with his sartorial elegance and his ebullient personality.

He often affected a handlebar mustache turned up at the ends, and attire that bordered on - or, to some minds, crossed the border of - outrageousness.

Bernie Scally was one of the most recognizable characters in greater Roxborough, where he had been a reporter on the Review, the weekly community newspaper, since 2005.

He died of natural causes last Tuesday at age 33.

Bernard J. Scally was the kind of community journalist who went wherever there was the slightest chance for a story - a fair, a store opening, a service-club meeting, a business starting up, and, of course, political and governmental activities affecting the Roxborough area.

"I attend several community meetings a month, and the only person who probably attended as many as me was Bernie," Josh Cohen, chief of staff for 4th District City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., told Amy Z. Quinn of NewsWorks.org for an obituary.

"Not only because it was his job, but because he cared deeply about the neighborhood and wanted to bring as many stories back to his readers as possible."

Cohen said he will miss seeing Bernie at Winnie's on Main Street to watch the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship and its famous Manayunk Wall challenge. Bernie never missed the race.

Longtime friend Don Russell, a former Daily News reporter who writes the "Joe Sixpack" beer column, said that when the Review landed on his doorstep after Bernie died, he found that it had seven stories with Bernie's byline.

"He would cover the most mundane events," Russell said. "He was a true gentleman, extremely polite. He would be genuinely interested in you when you met him.

"He saw himself as a man about town. He was always dressed to the nines. He once wrote a hilarious two-part series about how he got sized for a smoking jacket because he had taken up cigar smoking."

Considering that he was over 6 feet tall and weighed more than 350 pounds, the sizing would have been a test of the tailor's skills.

"Bernie was one of a kind," George Beetham, former editor of the Review who retired last year, told that newspaper for an obituary. "He had well-honed journalistic instincts and skills.

"Bernie did not just do something; he did it big as all life. He would joke, but he knew what he wanted and worked toward his goals. He was happy and proud to be a reporter for his hometown newspaper, and went wherever the story was to report it."

"Bernie loved this community - his community - and all the people in it," said Thomas Celona, editor of the Review and Montgomery Media. "He loved telling their stories and letting their voices be heard."

"Bernard Scally shined his light on the Roxborough-Manayunk community and told our stories in good times and bad," said James Harry Calamia, executive director of the Roxborough Development Corp. "When someone passes away, a piece of you goes with them. A big piece of our community is missing with Bernard's passing."

Bernie was active with the Pen & Pencil Club, on Latimer Street near 15th in Center City, the nation's oldest continuously operating press club. He served as a governor of its board of directors and was elected treasurer in February.

"He was the kind of sociable bon vivant who made the club a better place with his humor, his ability to get along with people and his warm smile," said club president Brad Wilson. "If Bernie was around, everybody was having a good time.

"My favorite memories of Bernie involve his superb taste in clothes, especially hats; his rich, aromatic cigars, and talking with him about his travels and his family over a whiskey."

Club member Quinn of NewsWorks.com told the Review that Bernie "was everything good that local journalism represents: dedicated, motivated by service and civic pride, appreciative of where he came from but not blind to its faults."

Bernie was born in Philadelphia to Bernard A. Scally IV and the former Lorraine Jennings. He graduated from Kennedy-Kenrick Catholic High School in 2000.

He is survived by a sister, Alissa Scarbrough, and his fiancee, Monica Howell.

The smoking jacket that Bernie wrote about, a cigar in the breast pocket, hung next to his coffin at his viewing last night at the Fitzpatrick Funeral Home, 425 Lyceum Ave.

Services: 11 a.m. today at St. John the Baptist Church, 146 Rector St. Friends may call at 9 a.m. at the funeral home. Interment will be private.

Donations may be made to Boy Scout Troop 474, 216 Pelham Road, Philadelphia 19119.