Veteran entertainment editor Ricky Lo passes away at 75

Philippine STAR entertainment editor Ricky Lo passed away last night, May 4. He was 75.

Ricky was a beloved figure in the entertainment industry, often getting interviews with the biggest stars in local show business that no other journalist could. He also interviewed Hollywood A-list celebrities and theater actors throughout his 50-plus-year career.

He often said he never missed a column in his life, except once. Through the years, his “FunFare” column entertained legions of showbiz followers with his inside stories into the stars’ lives.

He always said that wherever he went, he would be asked the identities of the people in his “blind items.” His colleagues at STAR and other entertainment journalists also often hounded him about the latest chismis. You knew he considered you his friend if he revealed his blind items, but for the most part he kept them to himself. 

Ricky was funny, kind and helpful to his colleagues. He was already a name in the entertainment media, someone younger reporters looked up to, when he joined the STAR when the newspaper was founded in July 1986.

He also hosted TV shows or was part of them throughout his long, illustrious career, but his heart was always in the newspaper, where he started as a young reporter in the 1960s.