From the ToledoBlade.com

TV anchor left news to work in advertising

Ryan Serber, a news anchor and reporter for Fox Toledo television station WUPW for four years, and more recently an advertising salesman for Toledo NBC affiliate WNWO, died early yesterday in his West Toledo home after a nearly three-year battle with brain cancer. He was 37.

Mr. Serber came to Toledo in March, 2000, from Orlando, Fla., on the recommendation of Brad Fanning, WUPW's sports director, when the local Fox affiliate organized its own news department after having previously teamed with WTOL.

"He was one of the good guys," said Mr. Fanning, who had known Mr. Serber from when they worked together in Wichita Falls, Texas, in the mid-1990s. "He was a hard-working, responsible journalist."

"He was a go-getter," said Ray Manelli, WUPW's president and general manager. "He really cared about the product, and he provided a lot of guidance for others in the newsroom, particularly when it came to writing."

Mr. Serber was diagnosed with a primitive neuro ectodermal tumor in February, 2003, after suffering a seizure. He underwent surgery to remove the tumor, and later received a stem-cell transplant.

A year after the transplant, Mr. Serber ran the 2004 Chicago Marathon in what his wife, Carrie, said was "a victory run." But a new tumor was discovered in April during a check-up.

"Up until two weeks ago, I would have told you he was going to beat the cancer," Mrs. Serber said. What turned out to be the final decline started around Thanksgiving, she said, when the tumor rendered Mr. Serber unable to walk.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in Evansville, Ind., Mr. Serber graduated from Loyola University of New Orleans in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in communications. He became a reporter for television station WCYB in Bristol, Va., and later covered the Oklahoma City bombing while reporting for KFDX in Wichita Falls. He was a reporter for KTBC in Austin, Texas, before becoming a fill-in anchor, editor/producer, and reporter at WFTV in Orlando, Fla.

During his anchor tenure at WUPW in Toledo, Mr. Serber and his colleagues won regional Emmy awards for outstanding newscast in 2002 and 2003.

Mr. Serber was "very intense" about his reporting and everything else he did, Mr. Fanning said. Mr. Serber was a fan of University of Michigan football and University of Kentucky basketball, and was "an obnoxious New York Yankees fan to the point where I would celebrate when they the Yankees lost," Mr. Fanning recalled with a laugh.

After his initial cancer treatment, Mr. Serber returned to WUPW as a reporter. While he missed being an anchor, Mrs. Serber said he also wanted to work daytime hours that better coordinated with her job. So in March, 2004, he left WUPW to take on a new challenge in advertising sales for local NBC rival WNWO.

Sales "was a natural fit" for him because "he loved creating and building relationships with people," she said.

"Anytime he met anybody, they immediately liked him. He was a great salesman and a great asset to the station," said Rick Lipps, general manager of WNWO.

After his initial diagnosis, Mr. Serber also became a public advocate for others afflicted by cancer, becoming a support-group coordinator for the American Cancer Society. In 2004, he served as master of ceremonies for the Toledo Hospital Charity Auction.

Along with his wife, the former Carrie Barto, Mr. Serber's survivors include his parents, Barry Serber and Donna Powell stepmother, Carol Serber sister, Loren Traylor stepbrother, David Kelly and grandmother, Faye Serber.