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Ed Charon tears apart a phone book at the Umpqua Roundup Parade in this file photo.
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ENLARGE
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Ed Charon of Sutherlin, who set the world record for ripping telephone books five different times, died Sunday.
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Ed Charon, who set the world’s record for ripping telephone books apart five different times, died Sunday at his home in Sutherlin.
Charon, 71, and his wife, Betty, had just returned home from church a little after 9 p.m. when he collapsed and fell onto the floor. Paramedics performed CPR but were unable to revive him, Betty Charon said.
Services will be at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Chapel of the Roses, 965 W. Harvard Ave., Roseburg.
“He had a gift and he used that gift to talk about healthy living and making good choices,” said Roseburg Mayor Larry Rich, an assistant principal at Roseburg High School.
Charon, pronounced “share-in,” demonstrated his talent several times for students in the school’s Step Up Program, which focuses on teens that don’t do well in traditional classroom settings.
“He was a great presenter,” said Rich, who served as an official observer for some of Charon’s record-setting tries.
Charon, the retired pastor of Umpqua Trinity Fellowship in Roseburg, took up ripping phone books in half in 1998. He became hooked after watching someone else do it on television. He was 63.
He set his first record on his 67th birthday in April 2002 in Branson, Mo., where he was residing at the time. He tore apart 19 telephone directories — each with 1,110 pages — in three minutes. He bettered the previous mark by seven.
Charon, 71, and his wife, Betty, had just returned home from church a little after 9 p.m. when he collapsed and fell onto the floor. Paramedics performed CPR but were unable to revive him, Betty Charon said.
Services will be at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Chapel of the Roses, 965 W. Harvard Ave., Roseburg.
“He had a gift and he used that gift to talk about healthy living and making good choices,” said Roseburg Mayor Larry Rich, an assistant principal at Roseburg High School.
Charon, pronounced “share-in,” demonstrated his talent several times for students in the school’s Step Up Program, which focuses on teens that don’t do well in traditional classroom settings.
“He was a great presenter,” said Rich, who served as an official observer for some of Charon’s record-setting tries.
Charon, the retired pastor of Umpqua Trinity Fellowship in Roseburg, took up ripping phone books in half in 1998. He became hooked after watching someone else do it on television. He was 63.
He set his first record on his 67th birthday in April 2002 in Branson, Mo., where he was residing at the time. He tore apart 19 telephone directories — each with 1,110 pages — in three minutes. He bettered the previous mark by seven.
When he set his most recent record last September in Roseburg, Charon ripped nearly three times as many directories as in that first try. When the bell rang after three minutes, he had torn through 56 Portland white pages directories. At 1,006 pages each, they were only slightly thinner than the ones he used for his first record try.
One of the highlights as champion was in 2003 when Charon was invited to appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” He appeared in an audience segment where several people with unusual talents were showcased.
Charon destroyed several phone books with his massive hands — he wore a size 16 1/2 ring. Impressed, Leno’s next guest, comedian Robin Williams, dubbed Charon “The Reverend Shredder.” Before that, he had been known as “The Ripper.”
Radio broadcaster Paul Harvey once spun a yarn about local police searching for a man who had torn a woman apart with his bare hands.
The “Rest of the Story” was that a News-Review story once mentioned that Charon ripped a phone book with a cover photo of former Southern Missouri State basketball player Jackie Stiles. Harvey obtained a copy of that story and created what for a few minutes sounded like a murder mystery.
Charon spent extensive time visiting prisons in Oregon, Idaho and other states to minister to inmates and to spread the message that they could make positive changes in their lives.
“He loved to go to the prisons,” Betty Charon said. “He’d preach while he was tearing the books.”
Although never an official entertainment act, Charon gave several impromptu demonstrations of his talent at the Douglas County Fair.
“He definitely left his mark. I know he touched a lot of people in the area,” Fairgrounds Director Harold Phillips said.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
One of the highlights as champion was in 2003 when Charon was invited to appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” He appeared in an audience segment where several people with unusual talents were showcased.
Charon destroyed several phone books with his massive hands — he wore a size 16 1/2 ring. Impressed, Leno’s next guest, comedian Robin Williams, dubbed Charon “The Reverend Shredder.” Before that, he had been known as “The Ripper.”
Radio broadcaster Paul Harvey once spun a yarn about local police searching for a man who had torn a woman apart with his bare hands.
The “Rest of the Story” was that a News-Review story once mentioned that Charon ripped a phone book with a cover photo of former Southern Missouri State basketball player Jackie Stiles. Harvey obtained a copy of that story and created what for a few minutes sounded like a murder mystery.
Charon spent extensive time visiting prisons in Oregon, Idaho and other states to minister to inmates and to spread the message that they could make positive changes in their lives.
“He loved to go to the prisons,” Betty Charon said. “He’d preach while he was tearing the books.”
Although never an official entertainment act, Charon gave several impromptu demonstrations of his talent at the Douglas County Fair.
“He definitely left his mark. I know he touched a lot of people in the area,” Fairgrounds Director Harold Phillips said.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
