CLEVELAND — Legendary Cleveland TV personality Ron ‘The Ghoul’ Sweed passed away Monday evening following a heart attack several months ago, according to his ex-wife.
Barbara J. King shared a post on Facebook that began, “It’s with a broken heart I am telling all my family and friends and you wonderful Ghoul fans that Ron Sweed lost his courageous 5 month fight and died last night.”
Sweed was just 13 years old when he wore a gorilla suit to a live Ghoulardi appearance here on WJW.
King wrote, “Many of you told me stories of meeting Ron or how watching his TV show cheered you up; that all meant a lot to me. I met Ron when I was 17, we got married when I was 18. We were married 14 years. Although we divorced we remained best friends.”
King said her heart goes out to Sweed’s wife.
News of his passing led to many sharing memories on social media. You can see those, below. One fan even created a Facebook event“to get fans together and watch The Ghoul Show in memory of Ron Sweed’s passing and celebration of his unique, original and lasting work.”
R.I.P. Detroit & Cleveland Movie Host Ron Sweed (AKAThe Ghoul) My Hero
on TV for many years . He even showed
one of my cheese wiz home movies on
his show .No more Boom Boom Boom's
(stay sick ,turn blue scratch glass,climb walls
and do it while you can, but dont get caught pic.twitter.com/epvZoHeGxS— scott randall WRIF (@screamin1) April 2, 2019
Sad to hear that Ron Sweed, aka The Ghoul, passed away. He began hosting horror movies in 1970, influenced by the great Ernie Anderson (Ghoulardi). pic.twitter.com/j3hrfbt0vs
— Dr. Gangrene (@drgangrene) April 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/tedco68/status/1113281018184630273