Obituaries

Roger James Auge, II, a star reporter with The Kentucky Post in the 1970s when the paper was at its peak of circulation and influence, died December 17, 2023, at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.

Through a long and productive working career, Mr. Auge was press secretary to former Gov. John Y. Brown, Jr., an educator, a literary artist, a competition-level bicycle racer, a theatrical impresario, an urban pioneer, a wilderness adventurer, a lifelong fan of UK and NKU athletics, and an ardent Kentucky Democrat.

Mr. Auge was 80, and died from the complications of Alzheimer’s disease. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Jane Stephens Auge, a son Stephen Auge, a daughter-in-law, Keri Root, and two grandchildren. He is also survived by a brother, Nelson (Jill) and a sister Mary Jean Auge Vogt (Martin). A sister, Gigi Auge Caskey, preceded him in death.

In two different stints at The Kentucky Post, Mr. Auge earned a reputation for forcefully bringing to light official malfeasance. His reporting led to the indictment and trial of a cadre at Covington City Hall. He was entrusted with the most important reportorial beats on the paper. His prowess on deadline was something to behold. Mr. Auge also reported for The Anchorage (AK) Daily Times, where he cultivated a love for the Alaskan wilderness. He also worked as a reporter for The Voice, a weekly in St. Matthews, Kentucky. Hanging in his office at home is a framed mock-up of the front page of an edition of The Voice for which Mr. Auge had written all the stories, taken all the pictures, and written all the headlines.

His reportorial skills produced a book-length series of articles for The Post about John Y. Brown, Jr. This led to an association between the two that included a stint of Mr. Auge as the governor’s press secretary and continued in friendship until Gov. Brown’s death in November, 2022.

Jaunty, funny, and connected, Mr. Auge was a skilled practitioner of the art of public relations. He was the organizational force behind the presentation of Shakespeare productions at the Devou Park Bandshell in the 1980s. He was responsible for the restoration of the bandshell, which lives on as a performance venue almost 40 years after Mr. Auge rescued it from decrepitude.

Mr. Auge was also director of the Northern Kentucky component of the Cincinnati Bicentennial celebration in the 1980s. That effort produced the statuary along Covington’s Riverside Drive in honor of John J. Audubon and other historical figures and events, a direct result of Mr. Auge’s formidable fund-raising skills and organizational panache.

A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Mr. Auge in maturity took Master’s Degrees from Northern Kentucky University in both education and in fine arts. The former led to a teaching career including stints at Holmes High School and at St. Henry High School.

The Master’s in Fine Arts Degree helped to launch a career as a fiction writer. Mr. Auge published short stories in literary magazines, an entirely different discipline from reporting.

For most of his life, Mr. Auge was often out of doors, enjoying nature and playing sports. Frequently at the end of a long reporting day, he would sprint on his bike out to Rabbit Hash and back. He took up scuba diving. He wandered the Alaskan outback, explored the woods and waters of Kentucky and Ohio.

Mr. Auge loved horseracing. He was proud of Kentucky’s preeminence in the sport of kings. He cashed many a winning parimutuel ticket earned with his equine savvy and gambler’s heart.

Mr. Auge loved Kentucky’s distinctive political history and its vibrant literary tradition. He was a classmate, friend, and fraternity brother at UK of former Gov. Steven L. Beshear. He befriended and championed writers he thought deserved a wider audience. He was a member of the Friends of Steely Library. He revered literary masters such as his friend Wendell Berry, Robert Penn Warren, William Faulkner, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Alice Munro.

Mr. Auge thundered denunciations on social media of what he felt were the excesses of those of the other political faith. He campaigned for decades for Democrats for local, state, and national office.

Born February 10, 1943 to Roger James and Grace Nelson Auge, he was raised in Park Hills and Fort Mitchell, and attended Beechwood School, deploying his moxie and sturdy frame as a football linebacker.

One of his great-grandfathers was Maurice Galvin, a lawyer who served as Kenton Commonwealth’s attorney, and was one of Kentucky’s most significant legal practitioners and political influencers of the 1920s.

There will be no services. Mr. Auge’s remains were cremated. In accord with his will, his ashes will be strewn in the waters of Lake Erie, which he had come to love.

A memorial reception is planned for the coming weeks.

The family requests that memorials be sent to the Theatre Department at NKU.