Larry Cheek

1936 - 2021

Larry Cheek
May 10, 1936 - September 30, 2021
Chapel Hill, North Carolina - Larry Cheek, lifelong journalist and longtime columnist for The Fayetteville Times and Observer-Times, died September 30, 2021. He lived out his retirement on the Orange County dairy farmland where he grew up. He was 85.
William Lawrence "Larry" Cheek, the youngest child of Lemuel and Ola Cheek, was born May 10, 1936. His first journalistic efforts were as a youngster, when he wrote postcards to a disabled aunt, describing the feats of UNC athletic teams.
Larry was an English major at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he served as sports editor for the Daily Tar Heel. He covered the Tar Heel men's basketball team during his senior year and was courtside when UNC defeated the Kansas Jayhawks to win the 1957 NCAA Championship. His love for Tar Heel sports never wavered.
He was athletic and fiercely competitive at golf and tennis, setting high standards for himself while being respected for good sportsmanship.
In his mid-70s, Larry occasionally shot his age on the golf course, a point of great satisfaction. He gave up golf and tennis only when Parkinson's disease robbed him of his ability to play up to his own expectations.
Larry was a veteran of the U.S. Army National Guard, a sports writer for The Roanoke Times, a reporter for the Chapel Hill News, and an investigative reporter for the Greensboro Record. He was a Washington correspondent for Landmark Newspapers and, in 1973, was a member of the inaugural staff of The Fayetteville Times. Not yet 40, he was a senior staffer in the newsroom and served as a mentor for younger reporters, a role he played for the rest of his career.
Larry's human-interest column was one of the paper's best-read features and won eight North Carolina Press Association awards over the years. He had previously won an investigative reporting national award from the American Political Science Association. For many readers, he was the face of The Fayetteville Times.
Other reporters were always welcome to stop by Larry's desk in The Times' newsroom for advice on a story, to share a joke, or speculate on the Tar Heels' fortunes. Larry's colleagues respected him for his prodigious output and for his ability as a wordsmith, day after day, year after year. Good humor and a wry outlook infused his columns; they were a solid reflection of Larry and how he saw the world.
Larry cultivated friends easily and nurtured those relationships with interest, conversation, and laughter. He loved the give and take, delighting in a quip, an insight, or a favorite song (his tastes ran from Mozart to Edith Piaf to Keb' Mo'). His knack for seeing both sides of an argument served him well as a reporter and led friends to seek his counsel.
Larry was as loyal as the best dog, but at heart he was a cat person. He savored John le Carré novels, an occasional Scotch, and life itself.
For more than half a century, his best friend and muse was Suzan, his wife.
Larry is survived by his wife, Suzan K. Cheek; a sister, Nancy Cheek Gaines; a stepson, Zachary Walke; nieces Marcia Gaines Mercer (Gordon); Mary Anna Gaines; Jenny Cheek Fenton (Doug); Katrina Cheek Wright; Diane Cheek Alridge (Scott); and nephews Michael Cheek (Jennifer) and Kevin Cheek. He was also the proud uncle of nine great- and grand-nieces and nephews {Katie Duvall, Leland Cheek; Cassie and Adam Wright, Brandon and Ryan Alridge, Michael, Wyatt, and Abigail Duval}.
The Cheek family deeply appreciates the support provided by his medical team and other caregivers during Larry's illness.
For those wanting to remember Larry with a memorial gift, the family suggests donations be made to the Cumberland Community Foundation, 308 N. Green St., Fayetteville, N.C. 28301; or The Daily Tar Heel, DTH Media Corp, 109 E. Franklin St. Suite 210, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514 or dailytarheel.com/page/donate.
Online condolences may be left at clementsfuneralservice.com.
Plans for a memorial gathering will be announced at a future date.
The family is being assisted by Clements Funeral & Cremation Services, Inc. in Hillsborough. Online condolences may be sent to www.clementsfuneralservice.com.