COLUMBUS, Ohio - If you want to get to know someone, sit down and talk. Jerry Revish taught me that five years ago on my first day. Now, on his last day at 10TV, what better way to show my appreciation than to sit down and talk with the man himself.
First question: What does retirement look like for Jerry Revish?
"The first word that comes to mind is freedom," he said. "Freedom from deadlines. Freedom from having to be someplace."
Revish says he'll stay busy.
Retirement means more time with his wife, Danielle, his children and grandchildren. He'll also continue to be pastor at his church, Unity Temple Church of God in Christ, which he helped found eight years ago.
"I mean, it's not like I"m going to be bored," he joked. "I won't be bored. I'll just have a little less to do and that'll work fine for me."
45 years. How can you even break that down? Jerry's journalistic journey has taken him many places from Saudi Arabia to South Africa to Cuba and Japan. He even had a one-on-one interview with President Barack Obama.
In central Ohio, the sensational storyteller connected with viewers on many important topics, including the desegregation in Columbus Public Schools
A vast career over 45 years. So, again, I ask: How can you break that all down?
"Five, 10, 50 years from now...how are people going to remember," Somerville asked. "How do you want people to remember Jerry Revish?"
"That he was a man that cared," Revish said. "That he was fair. That he was really interested in people."
People. The lifeline of his four-plus decades. He says the secret is not to ask questions but to listen. Everyone has a story, he says. Everyone. And, more often than not, they want to tell it. Nowadays, though, it seems we're so interested in our own agenda and our own questions that we find ourselves hearing but not listening.
"We live in a society where there are layers of folks that we don't want to be involved with for whatever reason and it permeates our society and that's a bad thing because we miss the boat," he said. "We miss an opportunity to discover something great about somebody we do not know."
As for Jerry's faith, he says it helped and propelled him to get through stressful, disappointing days that this business can and does bring. His faith, though, is everything to him. He believes in it. It helped him get up, go out and make a difference with unbiased and fair reporting.
"I think what's important is getting the information out," he said. "I have a personal opinion about everything, but that doesn't give me the license to put that into a news story. My opinion is not important. The story's important. The people are important. The facts are important. And, it's up to viewers to decide how they want to come down on the story."
How do you break down 45 years? Maybe you don't. Maybe it's not meant to be broken down. Maybe it's meant to be what it is: impressive. But, more impressive than his career is his character. And that isn't retiring anytime soon.
"It's not a cliche to me to say we need more love," Revish said. "It's not a cliche for me to say we need more respect for each another and not be so left or right, black or white. I think we have to accept each other for each other."
And the way to do that, he says, is just get to know one another. Just sit down and talk.
It's as simple as that. Thank you, Jerry. For everything.