FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Colleagues and friends paid tribute to radio great Lacy Neff on Thursday, marveling at the charisma and electric enthusiasm that drove his popularity on-air and off.
The most decorated personality in West Virginia radio, Neff died at age 49 last week, succumbing after a three-year battle with amyloidosis that necessitated a heart transplant and stem cells infusion.
During a eulogy from the Mollohan Research Center, MetroNews “Talkline” host Hoppy Kercheval championed Neff’s uplifting spirit.
“We say that he loved people, but it was more personal than that. He loved you, the individual you, and he expressed that love unconditionally in a way that made each of us feel special when we were in his presence.”
A five-time Marconi winner, Neff’s national awards took a back seat in his home state to the hundreds of WVAQ dance shows he hosted and the outsized personality that made him a sought-after wedding DJ.
Upon his passing, brides and grooms shared yesteryear photos of themselves hugging Neff at receptions.
“Lacy’s positive spin on life was like a virus—it wasn’t hard to catch it,” said West Virginia Radio Corporation’s Kevin Nicholas, who was hosting a weekend dance himself in 1983 when he encountered a 17-year-old Neff.
Cheerful and animated, Neff’s disposition played out during Thursday’s ceremony, which opened with “How Great Thou Art” and, at his request, closed with “Juicy” by Notorious B.I.G.
The memorial also featured Miss West Virginia Chelsea Malone performing “Me and You,” the Kenny Chesney ballad that played when Neff married his longtime girlfriend, Dana.
Soon after their wedding, he learned of contracting amyloidosis—a rare disease in which protein clumps lead to organ failure. The diagnosis was dire, yet two years later in a 2015 podcast from Massachusetts General Hospital, Neff’s resilience abounded.
“When they first diagnosed me, they told me I had two weeks to live, and I said that wasn’t acceptable. We didn’t know what amyloidosis was, but we were going to fight it.”
WVRC president Dale Miller gave Neff his first job in radio three decades ago, yielding to repeated requests from a 19-year-old who eventually blossomed into a member of the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
“He wore me down and I said yes,” Miller joked. “I’d say that worked out for everyone.”
Even from a hospital suite in Boston, where Neff spent his final two-plus years, he remained connected to his WVRC radio roots by mixing station promos, selecting music playlists and coaching up DJs.
“It would be great to say that we got Lacy through this, but Lacy got us through this,” Miller said. “He was like another one of my kids and I loved him as such.”
Officials from WVU Children’s Hospital in Morgantown praised Neff for his commitment to the annual telethon that generated $1.6 million since its 1998 inception.
Neff is also survived by three daughters, Devin and Spencer Neff and Whitney O’Dell; two grandchildren; two brothers and four sisters.
In one of his final podcasts, Neff said: “I don’t know what happens on the other side, but I have an idea and I hope it’s true. I have faith it’s true.”
He bonded with medical staff who preferred to schedule his treatments for the end of each day so they could leave work feeling positive. On occasions when they had to deliver discouraging news about Neff’s failing immune system, he smiled and asked “Why so gloomy?”
Weakened by surgeries that sometimes left him too sick to eat during recovery, Neff was nonetheless fortified by his decision to fight the disease. He cited new friendships with transplant recipients as “the silver lining” and expressed gratitude to his heart donor, aiming “to live a life that made him proud.”
That was the same optimism Kercheval saw as Neff roamed the radio station hallways pinching, high-fiving and bear-hugging whomever he encountered—interns, bosses, even unsuspecting advertisers.
“Those hugs are gone, but that heart won’t let us go,” Kercheval said. “Although his life was too short, it was vigorous and impactful, and the way he lived it ensures that he will never really leave us.”