Ralph Collier, 91; interviewed the stars on Philadelphia radio

Ralph Collier, 91, of Society Hill, a sophisticated voice in Philadelphia radio who interviewed celebrities and newsworthy figures, died Tuesday, Jan. 29, of heart failure at Pennsylvania Hospital.

Until this month, Mr. Collier was writing a weekly travel column for the Main Line Times.

For two decades until 1988, Mr. Collier hosted a daily interview program on classical-music WFLN-FM.

"He had a knack for opening people like a book," said his wife, Birtan.

"He was never confrontational," said Dave Conant, the station's program manager during part of Mr. Collier's tenure. "He did a good interview. Never interrupted people. But he knew his subject."

During a career that spanned seven decades, Mr. Collier interviewed President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Hope, Maria Callas, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Julie Andrews, and Charlton Heston.

Ralph Kisch was born in Berlin to an American father and a German mother. They fled the persecution of Jews in 1933 and relocated in the United States.

He enlisted in the Army in 1943 and served in Europe with the Fifth Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company, conducting psychological warfare against German forces.

After the war, Mr. Collier worked in radio in New York and radio and TV in Rochester, N.Y., and later in Philadelphia at WCAU radio. He joined WFLN in the mid-1960s and also handled public relations for the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

From 1975 to 1990, he was president of the Campbell Soup Tureen Museum and traveled the world with the multimillion-dollar collection. In 1988, Mr. Collier lost his WFLN job in a dispute with new owners. When the station changed its format in 1997, Conant moved to WRTI-FM and brought Mr. Collier along to do travel pieces, which he did until late 2011.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a sister, Gabrielle Elitov.

A funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 1, at Joseph Levine & Sons, 4737 Street Rd., Trevose. Interment will be private.

Contributions may be made to the Morris Animal Refuge, 1242 Lombard St., Philadelphia 19147, or a charity of the donor's choice.