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County Commissioner Marshall Dies At 74

Walter Marshall (Photo courtesy of Forsyth County) https://www.co.forsyth.nc.us/Commissioners/meet_marshall.aspx

Longtime Forsyth County Commissioner Walter Marshall has died.

He passed away suddenly of natural causes Wednesday morning, according to his wife, Paulette.

Marshall had served as a Forsyth commissioner since 1996, and recently announced he would not be seeking another term.

Local officials were shocked by his death, and referred to Marshall as a legend in the community.

Dave Plyler, chairman of the board of commissioners, told the Winston-Salem Journal that Marshall was a dedicated advocate for children and parents in the community.

Before his role as commissioner, Marshall was president of the Winston-Salem chapter of the NAACP, and a former member of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education.

Walter Marshall was 74.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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