Valarie D’Elia, a longtime travel journalist, died Tuesday after battling ALS. She was 64 years old.
D’Elia’s death was reported by NY1, where D’Elia became well-known for her “Travel with Val” segments on the local New York news station, where she worked from 1998 to 2017.
D’Elia also had her own travel production company and traveled the world producing content and making documentaries. Her work had appeared on the Travel Channel and HBO among other outlets. D’Elia also was the host of a national syndicated radio show, “The Travel Show.” In 2022, D’Elia’s documentary, “Saving Southern Italy,” was a winner at the Montecatini International Short Film Festival in Italy.
Travel was a family tradition for D’Elia, who had been to 103 countries and seven continents. Her great-grandfather started a travel agency in the early 1900s, originally selling steamship tickets from his bar in Bridgeport, Conn. That business grew into four D’Elia Travel offices in Connecticut by the time they were sold off in 1980: three in Bridgeport and one in Trumbull.
D’Elia recalled taking ocean liners to Europe as a child and remained an aficionado of the cruise industry and the preservation of historic ships. She volunteered her skills for the conservancy trying to save the SS United States, America’s flagship ocean liner.
“Valarie was the real deal, a true professional,” said Peter Knego, a cruise ship historian. “She was a genuinely warm, funny and curious spirit who loved her craft and sharing it with the world. At an early age, she traveled on some of the great liners, and that connection with ships, the sea and her parents’ homeland of Italy stayed with her throughout her life.”
D’Elia is survived by her husband Ron.
