On August 29, 1927, in Columbus, Ohio, Virgil Eugene McPherson became the sixth child of Arthur E McPherson and Emma L Scott McPherson. Siblings Irene and Dudley were already teens, and brother Charles had passed away, but Gene's closest-in-age sisters, Cora and Louise, doted on him and spoiled him as much as possible. They called him their little Buddy. To this day, many family members call him Bud. Everyone else called him Gene. He rejected the name Virgil from the start (the story goes that his parents let the other children name him), and from first grade on he was known to all but the Social Security system as Eugene V McPherson.

Growing up in the Great Depression, times were tough for the family. They moved frequently so he lived in 10 different houses, worked a series of jobs and attended 8 different schools before graduating from high school as the runner-up graduation speaker.

During his time in high school and college, Gene was a dedicated bicycle rider. He rode in and won many races in the Ohio region and competed in the US Olympic Team Trials for cycling in 1948. He rode on tracks and in packs, but most enjoyed solitary long distance riding. He traversed the United States from North to South and West to East, setting many point-to-point records. His longest ride was over 4,000 miles from Columbus to San Salvador in El Salvador. His most notable ride, though, came in 1949 when he set the world record for a single unassisted ride from Santa Monica, California to New York City (20 days, 4 hours, 29 minutes). This was truly a solitary ride with no support. For the record to be official, he was required to find a person every 25 miles to sign his logbook giving their location and contact information. His accomplishment even appeared in Ripley's Believe it or Not, and his transcontinental bicycle remains in the hands of a private collector today.

After high school, Gene enrolled at Ohio State University, but the Selective Service came calling. This delayed his college education while he served in World War II at General MacArthur's General Headquarters in the US Army of Occupation in Japan. Being a budding journalist, he maintained a detailed daily diary and took many photographs of fellow troops, Japanese citizens and the buildings in and around Tokyo.

After serving his country, Gene returned to Ohio and took advantage of the GI Bill to re-enroll at Ohio State. He graduated in 1950 with a BA degree in Radio Speech.

Gene was a true broadcast pioneer. After college graduation, he was employed as a radio announcer for WCOL in Columbus, but then became an announcer for WLW-C, a new television station, entering TV broadcasting while the industry was in its infancy. He reflected that he learned TV from the ground up at WICU in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was co-author of a textbook called "Television in the Public Interest."  He then spent many years as a writer, producer and director of both news and documentaries at WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio and WLWT in Cincinnati, Ohio, winning notable awards, including multiple Emmys, film festival awards, a Genesis award and the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan award. Gene's documentary special "The Last Prom" was so memorable that he made it three times, updating the vehicles and clothing to the time. Gene always believed its message about substance-impaired driving may have reached many thousands of teenage drivers and perhaps saved some. Moving up through the corporate ranks in various roles, he became a Vice President of Avco Broadcasting and General Manager of its affiliate WLWI in Indianapolis, Indiana. When AVCO exited the broadcasting industry, Gene left the corporate life and decided to employ himself, embarking on the second half of his working career.

Gene and his wife Nancy founded their own company, McPherson Media, Inc. in 1975 and began adding radio stations to their portfolio. Their small empire grew to include stations in Illinois, Oklahoma and Indiana. In addition to the radio stations, Gene was an Adjunct Professor of Broadcast Management at Indiana University and he stayed in touch with the television industry by consulting with news operations at television stations around the country. He also founded McPherson Productions, Inc. and continued to write, produce and direct award-winning documentaries until retiring. Retirement for Gene meant renovation projects at his homes and taking up plein air painting, as well as entertaining himself writing several unpublished novels, screenplays and even poetry.

Although his athletic and career accomplishments were many, Gene would say the most important part of his life was his family.

Soon after returning to Columbus to work for WBNS, Gene was invited to his boss' house for dinner. It turned out to be a blind date with Nancy Marie Clark, a clothing buyer who had recently moved to Columbus from Nebraska. He knew right away that she was the woman who would complete his life. They were engaged within 2 weeks of meeting, and married soon after on June 13, 1953. Two children followed, Lynne and Scott. Gene also found joy in adding Lynne's husband Steve McMahan and Scott's wife Jan Hare to the McPherson clan. Later, Gene and Nancy were thrilled and proud to have four strong and powerful granddaughters:  Melissa, Amanda, Megan and Sarah. They even maintained two residences (one in California and the other in Indiana) in order to be close to, assist with, and cheer on the family at bicycle races, motocross races, plays, concerts, graduations, swim meets and other events. Gene also had six great grandchildren:  Clara, Calvin, Wyatt, Connor, Chase and Hank. Although physically he could no longer do his trademark silly walks for these great grandchildren, he always got a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face when he saw them. Gene supported his family always, in every meaningful way.

Gene and Nancy were life partners for almost 70 years until her death in 2023. Together they built or renovated several homes, being most proud of a hexagonal A-Frame house Gene designed that appeared on house tours in Cincinnati for many years (as did their mid-century modern home in Indianapolis). Together they were avid travelers. In addition to putting many miles on their beloved motorhomes in the US, Gene and Nancy travelled the world. They started out by visiting Europe on "$5 per day." On that trip, they got lost behind the Iron Curtain on a visit to Aunt Melissa and Uncle Slava in Czechoslovakia. They went on a photo safari in Africa, a camel safari in India, rode elephants in Thailand, walked the Great Wall of China, saw the Bolshoi Ballet, kissed the Blarney Stone in Ireland and climbed to Machu Picchu in Peru. All told, they counted 27 countries that they visited. They took copious photos (Gene was seldom seen without a camera), enjoyed learning about the people in these countries, and made friends in every travel group.

Gene spent his last years in Corona del Mar, California in a beautiful setting overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Gene passed away on February 25, 2025, surrounded by children and grandchildren.  He requested that there not be a formal memorial service. However, if you would like to honor him, please consider the Alzheimer's Association or your favorite local charity. His cremains will be interred next to Nancy at the Evergreen Cemetery in St Edward, Nebraska. We are confident that Gene and Nancy are now happily travelling around the heavens together visiting friends and family who have gone before.