Jonathan Storm, retired longtime Inquirer TV critic, has died at 78

Jonathan Storm, 78, of Red Bank, N.J., retired longtime TV critic for The Inquirer, former associate editor for the Detroit Free Press, onetime reporter for the Rutland Daily Herald in Vermont, freelance critic for tvworthwatching.com, former English schoolteacher, mentor, and animal lover, died Monday, Aug. 4, of complications from treatment for metastatic melanoma at HMH Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank.

Celebrated for more than 40 years by colleagues and readers alike for his wit, honesty, and writing prowess, Mr. Storm produced more than 6,000 stories, columns, reviews, previews, lists, and other elements for The Inquirer from 1982 to his retirement in 2011. He wrote book reviews, travel and wine columns, and articles on all sorts of events for the paper in the 1980s, and became a features editor and then TV critic in 1990.

For two decades, he wrote annual previews of the new fall TV shows, filed colorful dispatches from the glitzy TV critics press tour in California, predicted the Emmy Awards, and compiled hundreds of best and worst on TV lists. He posted the groundbreaking “Eye of the Storm” online blog and was part of an Inquirer team whose series on American culture was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

In 2002, he traveled to Tarutao, Thailand, to document the fourth season of Survivor and said: “Observing Survivor contestants in their habitat is like going to the zoo, except there are no bars, you must remove your watch so the animals can’t see what time it is, and you are not allowed to eat or drink in front of them. They might get jealous."

“He was as sharp a critic as there ever was,” said Peter Dobrin, an arts and entertainment ​reporter for The Inquirer. “Sometimes he would leave a maker of a film or video angry about a review, only for them to realize later how insightful it was.”

Daniel Rubin, The Inquirer’s senior editor for investigations, said: “Clearly great taste and never snobby or snotty. Just sharp tongued.” Reid Tuvim, a multiplatform editor for The Inquirer, said: “There was meat and gravitas behind the words.”

» READ MORE: Jonathan Storm's 2011 farewell column: How can anyone retire from the 'job' of watching and writing about TV?

In 1987, as a features editor, Mr. Storm won an award for helping The Inquirer and Daily News produce a yearlong series of supplements to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. The project was featured in an hour-long telecast on C-Span, and Mr. Storm was a featured guest.

Later, he and Gail Shister, then a TV columnist for The Inquirer, cohosted a short-lived radio talk show. In 2007, he talked TV with callers and other guests on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation.

Former colleagues called him “a lovable cantankerous soul” and a “seminal, cherished part of the [Television Critics Association] madness” in Facebook tributes. Shister said on Facebook: “He was a one-of-a-kind character who left an indelible mark on the world.”

On X, Mr. Storm listed some of his favorite TV shows as Justified, Shameless, The Bridge, The Good Wife, and The Big Bang Theory. In 2007, he told NPR that The Sopranos was “maybe the best show in the history of television.”

He was also a fan of Jeopardy! and, perhaps anticipating the advent of artificial intelligence, said in a 2011 column: “A computer may eventually become the best contestant, but one thing’s certain: It will never replace Alex Trebek. I leave it to you to decide if that’s good or bad.”

In a 2005 positive review of Everybody Hates Chris, he said: “A family sitcom with a heart and a brain is a rare TV commodity.” He admitted in a 2011 farewell column that his “primary work garb is plaid pajamas” and added: “It has generally been a joy, but the pressure of change in television and in the newspaper business was getting intense.”

He also wrote for tvworthwatching.com, and his author page profile begins with: “Jonathan Storm has watched television since he was 5 years old. He would wake up early, turn on the TV, and watch the test patterns as he waited for The Modern Farmer to begin."

Before The Inquirer, Mr. Storm was a writer and associate editor for the Detroit Free Press from 1976 to 1982, and a reporter for the Rutland Daily Herald in Vermont from 1970 to 1976. He also taught English for a year at Appleton Academy in New Ipswich, N.H.

» READ MORE: Jonathan Storm: In 2011, every channel is Channel 9/11

“He was logical, orderly of mind and desk, and blessed with a quiet, wry humor that defused deadline tensions,” said Carrie Rickey, former Inquirer movie critic. “He gave the impression of someone who walked out of a Dickens novel and into an episode of The Office."

Jonathan Morris Storm was born April 16, 1947, in New York. He grew up in New Canaan, Conn., and was inspired to write and study journalism by teachers in elementary school and later at St. George’s School in Middletown, R.I. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Williams College in Massachusetts in 1969.

He met Kathleen Pottick through a mutual friend in 1972, and they married in 1979, and lived in Detroit and Ringoes, N.J., for 40 years before moving to Red Bank in 2024. She is a college professor, and together they traveled the world, and he learned about wine, played golf as often as possible, and drove cool cars.

“He had a broad sense of the world,” his wife said. “He appreciated fun and enjoyment. He had a clear ethical and moral compass.”

As a boy, he went to high school in France with the Experiment in International Living. As an adult, he followed the Phillies and engaged lively on Facebook.

He spoke English, French, and German. He wrote songs for his dogs and sang to them.

Colleagues and friends called him Stormy. In 1971, he represented the Rutland Daily Herald as a judge for the Miss Vermont contest.

“He liked people,” his wife said. “He really cherished life.”

» READ MORE: Jonathan Storm: Real life saps laughs

In addition to his wife, Mr. Storm is survived by a brother and other relatives.

A celebration of his life is to be held later.

Donations in his name may be made to St. George’s School, Advancement Office, 372 Purgatory Rd., Middletown, R.I. 02842; and Save the Children, Attn: Gift Processing, 501 Kings Highway E., Suite 400, Fairfield, Conn. 06825.