NORWICH – Jerry Weaver of Norwich championed and scrutinized agriculture in Chenango County for The Evening Sun for nearly half a century. He anchored the paper weekly from the Farm Page and was its longest running local columnist.

A great reporter was lost yesterday upon his death. “Second Cuttings” columnist Weaver, who was 92, passed away at Chenango Memorial Hospital.

The newspaper man’s original beat at the Sun included city government and schools. He wrote full-time for 27 years before retiring and beginning his column on a part-time basis in 1982.

“I intend to keep at it until I quit because of physical conditions or mental conditions or because I get fired,” he said on Agriculture Awareness Day back in 2001.

Weaver was recognized numerous times for promoting agriculture and was a recipient of awards and certificates of appreciation from, among other organizations, Chenango County 4-H clubs, Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Chenango County Farm Bureau.