A longtime newspaperman who rose from cub reporter to publisher, Ron Semple is a fifth-generation Jersey City native. Semple was educated by the Jesuits. He is a former Marine, a retired Coast Guard auxiliarist, and a retired firefighter and paramedic. Semple spent the past ten years as a FEMA reservist deployed to a half-dozen hurricanes. He is married and has two grown daughters, a foster son and two grandchildren.