Gil Spencer, former Daily News editor, dies at 85.(Obituary)

Byline: Regina Medina

June 25--Former Daily News editor Gil Spencer was, first and foremost, a newspaper man. Scratch that. A tabloid newspaper man. But the Pulitzer Prize winner, who died at age 85 yesterday morning in Manhattan, was also a father of five. A dad who refused to let an illustrious, adventure-filled career in journalism get in the way of face time with his children. "He never missed a basketball game that I played in," Gil Spencer IV, 56, said yesterday. "He was an avid fan of sports and he made sure to go to my games. Then he'd go back to work." Spencer's death -- and his 45-year career in journalism that took him from Philadelphia to New York and …