'Always positive': Ian victim Glenn Scroggy loved photography and his Philadelphia Eagles

Glenn Scroggy had an eye for photography and a heart for Philadelphia sports teams.

Through the lenses of his Nikons, he captured the Eagles at Veterans Stadium, Mike Schmidt sliding into home for the Phillies, Charles Barkley at the Spectrum. There were fires and court hearings and press conferences, a regular day for a newspaper photographer.

Scroggy spent a decade making photographs for the Gloucester County Times, then another decade at the Courier-Post in New Jersey. He translated those skills in the advertising department at The News-Press in Fort Myers in the early 2000s.

Recently, he worked part-time at Publix and for a transportation service shuttling flight crews to and from the airport, all the while continuing to document life around him: bald eagles, Gulf Coast sunsets, beach weddings, hot rods and his Southwest Florida community.

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Scroggy chalked up Hurricane Ian as just another storm, said childhood friend Bill DiBlasio, who grew up with him down the street in Pennsauken, New Jersey.

“I asked him if he was going to evacuate,” DiBlasio said. “He said no. He said he was going to ride it out because they’ve had storms before and he didn’t think this was going to be such a big deal.”

He told his manager at SkyHop Global that he lived in a second-story apartment.

“He felt good about that,” said Rick Keller.

The evening before Ian officially made landfall, Scroggy made a post on Facebook.

“To all my FLA compadres … Be well, be safe. See you on the sunny side when this is over,” he wrote.

The next morning he saw that the storm was “getting too close for comfort.” A few hours later, “lots of wind.”

Three hours before landfall on Sept. 28, Scroggy made his final Facebook post.

“I moved my car from a flood zone. Now I’m being pounded by wind … I can’t wait till this is over,” he wrote at 12:15 p.m. A half hour later, he typed a comment to someone telling him to stay safe. “Thanks love,” he wrote.

When he hadn’t posted an update or responded to Keller’s email asking if anyone needed assistance, friends, coworkers and volunteers spent days on the streets and in Facebook groups trying to locate him, to no avail.

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He was discovered in his car at the intersection of Summerlin and John Morris roads near the Iona community in Fort Myers. He was 68.

Scroggy graduated from Pennsauken High School in 1972 and studied business and accounting at Camden County College.

He moved to Southwest Florida in 1996 to help his brother Mark, who had suffered two strokes. Mark was Ben Hill Griffin's chef at the Lake Wales Country Club, Scroggy wrote in a Facebook post. He died in 2004.

He enjoyed playing golf, watched Eagles games at Gator Lanes, bought scratch-off tickets and bonded with people over a shared love of photography.

Whenever they called each other to catch up, DiBlasio said he would reminisce about South Jersey and the Eagles.

“I never had a bad conversation or a negative conversation whatsoever with Glenn. He was always, always, always positive and excited to talk to you and just an exciting guy,” DiBlasio said.

Keller described Scroggy as a “relaxed person.”

“He treated everyone good,” he said.

Jen French Gray, who said in public Facebook posts that she was Scroggy’s hairstylist for more than 20 years, said he was happy to meet so many people at his new job and was going to the movies, this summer seeing “Top Gun: Maverick.”

“I still hear your voice saying..Jennnnnnn! Waz upppp..,” she wrote. “You will be greatly missed.”

Hannah Morse covers consumer issues for The Palm Beach Post. Drop a line at hmorse@pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on Twitter @mannahhorse.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Hurricane Ian victim: Glenn Scroggy loved photography, Philadelphia Eagles