Nagy, Ronald Michael

Nagy, Ronald Michael (b. 1949)

Ron Nagy was born on November 2, 1949, in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. His father was Michael J. Nagy and his mother Margaret E. Gatlos. He has one sister, Carol Ann. Nagy grew up in Royersford, Pennsylvaina, and attended Spring-Ford schools. He graduated high school in 1967 and went on to Western Kentucky University. Nagy enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in October, 1969, and took part in NATO exercises in England, Germany, Spain, and Greece. He left the Air Force in 1971 and served in the Pennsylvania National Guard until 1977. In 1973, he married Virgina Verish of Phoenixville, and they had three children: Sarah, Michael, and Mark. The couple divorced in 1990.

Nagy worked at various heavy industry jobs until 1985. He was a correctional officer from 1985 to 2001. Throughout this last employment, Nagy took an interest in and gradually expanded his knowledge of psychical research and metaphysics. He had a lifelong interest in the Association for Research and Enlightenment, the Edgar Cayce Foundation headquartered at Virginia Beach, Virginia. Believing that “nothing happens by chance,” Nagy discovered Spiritualism and felt a sense of “coming home.” The teachings seemed to answer many questions arising from experiences that he had previously considered “coincidental.”

Nagy started the Morris Pratt Course on Modern Spiritualism, and completed it in record time. He moved to Lily Dale, New York, the oldest and largest Spiritualist community in the world. There he met Joyce LaJudice, Historian of the Lily Dale Museum, who recognized his potential and engaged him as an assistant. LaJudice shared with him with her intimate knowledge of the 125 years of Lily Dale history and the general history of Spiritualism. Nagy considers her the person who has had the greatest impact on his life.

Nagy gives lecture tours of Lily Dale during the summer tourist season. His talks have been very well received based on his blending of basic facts with the “moods and events of this country during the formative days of Spiritualism.” He has helped redesign the Lily Dale Museum and to better present the many artifacts it contains. He has made himself the foremost expert on precipitated spirit paintings of the type produced by the Bangs Sisters and the Campbell Brothers. His book Precipitated Spirit Paintings: Beyond the Shadow of Doubt (2005) is the first major work on the subject. He has also contributed many articles to The National Spiritualist Summit, the monthly journal of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches.

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