Roger A. A. Neumann of Nampa, ID, passed away January 23, 2025, after a long battle with brain cancer. He was 81 years old.

Roger was born in the Bronx, NY, on May 7, 1943, the son of Alwin and Amelia Neumann of Yonkers. He was predeceased by his parents and sisters Barbara Cole and Doris Brue. He grew up in Yonkers, NY, and was a graduate of Lincoln High School and Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He was always a New York sports fan. He loved watching the Giants, Mets, Rangers, Islanders, Jets, and Yankees, and while living upstate, the Buffalo Bills and Sabers.

After college he volunteered to serve in the Air Force. He was a graduate of the Defense Information School for military journalists in Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. He edited the base newspaper at Yokota Air Base in Japan and covered the Vietnam War for Pacific Stars and Stripes from April 1968 to April 1969. He was an assistant chief of the bureau in Saigon. He considered his war coverage, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service in a combat zone, to be his highest achievement as a journalist.

He said his proudest moment, though, was when he married the former Nancy Whipple of Mt. Hope, NY. That was on August 29, 1970, in Middletown, NY, where they had met as reporters for the Times-Herald Record newspaper. Roger and Nancy moved upstate into the Finger Lakes region, welcomed three children into their family, and loved being parents.

Roger was a newspaperman all his working life and even into retirement as a freelancer. He was a reporter, editor, and photographer, beginning with the New York Daily News after his return from the war and ending with the Star-Gazette in Elmira, NY (upstate), from which he retired in 2012.

In retirement, he loved traveling with Nancy, especially to visit their children and grandchildren. They enjoyed three trips to Germany to visit Roger's grandparents' hometowns and for a Viking River Cruise. Roger loved to play chess with local competitors and against opponents from all over the world. He liked to hike and bike, paddle kayaks, and fish. He found he was a Bayern Munich soccer fan from watching soccer in Germany. He loved to relax with a good book, especially anything written by Ernest Hemingway or Elmore Leonard. He liked nothing better than listening to jazz and sipping an Upstate beer or a glass of scotch.

Roger was a member of Horseheads NY Post 442 of the American Legion, Elmira Chapter 803 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, CASA of the Southern Tier, Second Place East Inc., and Friends of the Horseheads Free Library, and he was an usher at the Clemens Civic Center in Elmira. He attended First Methodist Church of Horseheads and was a former member and elder at First Presbyterian Church of Horseheads.

Roger is survived by his loving wife of 54 years, Nancy; daughter, Michelle (Eric) McUmber of Meridian, Idaho; and sons Mark (Angela) Neumann of Horseheads, New York, and Scott Neumann of Vista, California; granddaughters, Brooklyn Neumann and River McUmber; grandsons, Trey McUmber and Connor Neumann. He has one surviving aunt, Celine McCourtney, and several cousins, nieces, and nephews.