Today obituary: Gloria Romeo, 96, was a force behind Syracuse cultural and art events for decades

From an early age, Gloria Romeo understood the importance of live arts and entertainment to a community.

While a student at Eastwood High School, she wrote an editorial for The Post-Standard decrying the rise of television.

“Syracusans should clamor for more of these (live music and theater) presentations,” she wrote in 1948, “which contribute more to the aspect of realism in entertainment than people portrayed on a black and white screen, moving about under the manipulation of a director.”

After graduating, she attended Le Moyne College.

Romeo performed with the “Boot and Buskin” theater group and then promoted the plays of the Le Moyne College Guild Players in the early 1950s.

Organizing and promotion would become her superpower.

Spanning three decades, from the 1970s into the 1990