After a long 18-month battle with ALS, longtime travel reporter Valarie D’Elia passed away on Tuesday. The adored journalist did work for HBO, the Travel Channel, WOR Radio Network, and of course NY1. She was most known for her infamous “Travel with Val” segments that became popular with New Yorkers on NY1.“She is survived by her husband Ron, and will be missed by her family and friends,” NY1 wrote Wednesday.
Many of Delia’s friends took to social media to share some stories and express their love for her. Perry Garfinkel, one of Delia’s oldest friends, wrote the following on Facebook:
“More hard words to write. My dear longtime friend and colleague Valarie D’Elia passed away yesterday after an 18-month struggle with the debilitating nervous system disease called Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis…Only a few months ago she urged me to contact her connection at CBS,” Garfinkel revealed. She exhausted even inexhaustible me with her relentless energy and multiple interests… But it was when she discovered her Italian heritage birthplace in the village of Castelfranco that she found her passionate mission – to promote it and ancestry research – and in the process discover her purpose… She was only 64 years old and I know many in her world and across the globe are grieving, as am I.”
Her alma mater, The University of Miami’s School of Communication, has a page dedicated to D’Elia. The end of this page has a beautiful quote from her that encompasses everything Valarie D’Elia was about.
“My goal is to see and experience as much as absolutely possible, the world is so big and diverse that you can never truly be bored. There’s always something new to experience and somewhere new to be”.
