It’s unclear when Ronnie Ray Rhodes began spontaneously howling “Ah-hoo!” like Warren Zebon on the hit tune “Werewolves of London.”
He produced the sound during moments of drama at charity auctions where he worked as a ringman whose job was to relay bids and persuade additional paddle raises. He’d bay after shots of liquor, along with his cell phone ringtone (set to ah-hoo) and at rock venues like Metro where he was a known presence for decades.
“For 99% of people, if they howled like that, I’d be like ‘Dude, get a clue.’ But with Ronnie, you just went ‘Cool,” said auctioneer Keith Jones, head of Sayre & Jones Auctioneers, who worked with Mr. Rhodes for decades.
Mr. Rhodes died Jan. 17 from complications due to liver failure. He was 63.
“He was a fixture in the club scene,” said Metro owner Joe Shanahan. “He’d hold court at the bar. And was just a lovely guy.”
Few people forgot him. He was bald, smiled often and had a finely waxed handlebar mustache.
Mr. Rhodes, dressed in a tuxedo, worked auctions benefiting nonprofits like Misericordia and various Catholic schools, and was known informally as “mustache guy.”
“And the guy just had the ability to put clothes on that no one else could make work, red slacks, a yellow shirt, stuff you and I would get laughed down the street in, but was just cool on him,” said Shane Ratliff, an auctioneer and friend.
“Ronnie had a gift to navigate money, people and a market in the auction industry that always brought ultimate results,” Ratliff said.
“You couldn’t help but like the guy. He just made people feel at ease, and they gravitated to him,” Jones said.
On warm weather vacations, his wife, Aga Rhodes, preferred the beach over the pool because it was easier to isolate him from conversation with strangers.
“We both look very interesting,” she said, noting their numerous tattoos and her husband’s affection for cowboy hats. “But I’m a makeup artist and talk to strangers for a living, so I just like the peace on vacation, but he loved to talk to people and made friends on every airplane he was ever on,” she said.
“He was my ride or die, my best friend, my soulmate,” she said.
The pair met at the now-closed punk rock bar Exit. He was at the bar and she was sitting on a pool table when they became aware of each other.
He proposed on Abbey Road during a vacation to England, in the same spot made famous by a Beatles album cover.
The pair were longtime residents of Bucktown before Mr. Rhodes moved in 2023 to Monee to be nearer to family.
Mr. Rhodes was born in Chicago on April 4, 1961, to Rena Rhodes and Samuel Rhodes, who were in the auto auction business. He graduated from Peotone High School and studied at the University of California at Berkeley before attending the World Wide College of Auctioneering in Mason City, Iowa.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Rhodes is survived by stepdaughter, Kamila Blume, and his granddaughter Milliana Allison Blume.