Ronnie Marchant

Ronnie Marchant (born c. 1934 in Vance; died September 7, 2021) was an auto dealer, retailer and television personality.

Marchant grew up in Bucksville in Tuscaloosa County and graduated from Brookwood High School in 1952. He served in the U.S. Army airborne forces until 1956. He met his wife, Marlene at Kiddieland and married her in 1958. Their son, Jeffrey died from an aneurysm when he was 17.

Marchant began his career in sales at an insurance agency and then at Long Lewis Ford. He began managing the Sylacauga branch of Jefferson Furniture in 1959, and left two years later to open his own business, Ronnie Marchant Furniture, TV & Appliance at Westlake Mall in Bessemer. In the meantime, he began advertising and appearing on the Country Boy Eddie Show on WBRC 6. He served as a weather reader, an interviewer, a sidekick, and occasional guest host of the program.

In a 1998 documentary about the Country Boy Eddie Show it was recalled that Marchant sold singer Tammy Wynette a 1961 Chevrolet, and also loaned her the guitar, as she left for Nashville.

References

• Thornton, William (September 8, 2021) "Ronnie Marchant, Bessemer businessman and television personality, dies." The Birmingham News