Author: Belinda Clarke

Medill Alumni Making a Difference During the Pandemic

Post author By Belinda Clarke
Post date April 3, 2020
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As the COVID-19 battle rages, Northwestern alumni are reporting daily from Washington, New York, Chicago and numerous other cities hit so hard by this pandemic. NBC correspondents Gabe Gutierrez (BSJ05), pictured, Peter Alexander (BSJ98) and Sam Brock (BSJ05, MSJ07) are reporting practically 24-7 on national television. Christine Brennan (BSJ80, MSJ81), one of the nation’s foremost Olympic experts, has been interviewing members of Team U.S.A. about the postponement of the 2020 Games.

Medill alum Justin Kerr (BSJ93) shifted the McKinley Park News toward coronavirus coverage and features starting in early March when the effects of the pandemic first started hitting the neighborhood. The publication, a micro-local news website covering Chicago’s McKinley Park Community Area and Central Manufacturing District, updated its neighborhood event calendars, de-listing canceled events and adding a coronavirus-specific community schedule, including senior shopping hours and food distribution for families of Chicago Public Schools students.

“We changed our coverage, too,” Kerr said. “Some articles in development had to be shifted aside to focus on more immediate coronavirus news.” This has included a directory of neighborhood restaurants staying open for delivery and take-out, published immediately after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s order to shutter in-restaurant dining, and a local fabricator’s efforts to manufacture 150,000 face shields for Chicago’s first responders and front-line medical workers. All news and event content published on the McKinley Park News has been freely available and will remain so, Kerr said.

The coronavirus pandemic also inspired the relaunch of the publication’s community forums, including the new McKinley Park Support Network, a set of discussion boards designed to support fast and easy coronavirus communication. Kerr said it’s been a handy channel for him to quickly aggregate and share general info that might not have a neighborhood-specific hook to justify a news article, but that’s still important and relevant for the readership of the McKinley Park News.

“All of our members — including participating local Institutions — have access to participate in the McKinley Park Support Network,” Kerr said. “Access to this and other features on the McKinley Park News is automated and available at no cost.”

Kerr noted how the publication’s progressive privacy practices support coronavirus dialogue. “Our member privacy policies and tools are best in their class,” he said.

According to Kerr, this ethos will help the McKinley Park News weather an environment of economic catastrophe caused by the pandemic. “Our operating costs are designed to be dirt-cheap,” he said. Kerr noted his own currently unpaid role as the publication’s sole staffer. “Where the pandemic will hurt is expanding our revenue to enable staff compensation and look at business expansion into adjacent neighborhoods,” he said. “However, I strongly believe in the demand and business potential of high-quality local news: When the pandemic ends, surviving local news publications will hopefully have even more opportunities in what’s already a mostly ignored, wide-open market.”

Leigh Ann Winick (BSJ84) is a medical producer for CBS News based in New York who is helping shape the network’s coverage of the pandemic. Since January, she has produced frequent segments on the emerging virus, fronted by the network’s practicing physician contributors. With the first U.S. death in late February, the medical team became command central for the network’s multi-platform coverage. Then, on March 11, two colleagues were diagnosed, and the entire CBS Broadcast Center was emptied in one afternoon. Since then, everyone based in New York has been working remotely.

“It’s taken a lot of improvising,” Winick says. “We no longer obsess over camera angles or lighting. Travel restrictions have increased our reliance on cell phone video. There’s an urgency to convey the latest information – which can literally be life saving – and if that comes via a phoner or a Zoom interview from a scientist’s hotel room, we’ll use that. We are finding many ‘real people’ stories through social media. While I’m working harder than ever, I’ve been fortified by the basic skills I learned at Medill, and the hope that we are positively impacting millions of lives during this heartbreaking time.”

Alumni journalists, however, aren’t the only Medillians making a difference during the pandemic.

Preeti N. Malani (MSJ91), MD, is the Chief Health Officer for the University of Michigan and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. She, too, is working on the front line against COVID-19. Rather than covering the pandemic for news outlets, her work in infectious diseases is taking her to the bedside to help care of patients who are sickened with COVID-19.

Like many regions of the country, Michigan is developing contingency plans to care for large numbers of patients (well beyond the usual capacity of our hospital), according to Dr. Malani. She is part of a large multi-disciplinary group involved with the planning of a temporary field hospital to help care for the anticipated patient surge from across the state.

As Chief Health Officer, Dr. Malani advises the university president on all aspects of health and well-being for students, faculty and staff.

“In rapid sequence, we had to make decisions on bringing students home from overseas education, suspending face to face instruction, moving day to day activities to remote locations, and how to support students who can’t leave campus,” she said. “There are numerous administrative issues that require creative solutions as there is no playbook to address this situation.”

Dr. Malani adds that in her role as an associate editor at the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), she has written a series of summaries directed toward clinicians and helped review and edit a number of time sensitive manuscripts that have helped inform patient care, public health measures, and general policies.

“Instead of writing the news story, I’ve instead given dozens of interviews, and have been asked to provide guidance to several lawmakers including Michigan’s governor,” she added. “My Medill education continues to pay dividends in unexpected ways. Always grateful for what I learned so many years ago.”

David Charns (MSJ11) left his morning anchoring job at WMTW in Portland, Maine, in January for a new challenge, but his search quickly slowed due to the pandemic.

“I wanted to continue working my craft while searching for a new full-time broadcast job,” Charns said. “With 24/7 news of this national emergency on many different topics, I have found there was and is a need for concrete, ‘Here’s what happened, here’s what’s next’ coverage to easily communicate important information news consumers want. I had talked to many people who said they were tuning out because the nonstop news was so grim.”

Charns set out to provide quick, daily roundups of all of the major coronavirus headlines across his social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube). In three weeks, he said, these videos have garnered tens of thousands of combined views.

“I am now branching out with interviews with people impacted by this emergency, which will be posted soon along with the news of the day.”

IMC15 graduate Sunny Williams and his team at Tiny Docs are responding to the urgent need for child-friendly content about the pandemic with Covid-19 health information just for kids.

Tiny Docs, co-founded by Williams in 2015, produces “Health Caretoons,” — animated cartoons that teach kids about their health in a fun, relateable, and easy-to-understand way. The library covers medical procedures, chronic health conditions, and general wellness. “All Tiny Docs content is vetted by our board of pediatricians, child life specialists, and nurses to ensure the information is medically accurate and beneficial,” says Williams.

“To help kids manage Covid-related stress and anxiety, we released a caretoon on mindfulness. Our Tiny Comic: A Kid’s Guide to Covid-19 teaches kids how to be healthy, how to manage their feelings, and how to be kind during this time of challenge and uncertainty. We’ve also released several Covid-19 related blogs by experienced and passionate pediatric professionals. And more free caretoons, blogs, and comics will be released in the coming weeks.”

In the United Kingdom, IMC alumna Jacine Rutasikwa (IMC10) and her husband, Paul, have converted their rum distillery, Matugga Distillers, into a production house for hand sanitizer to help combat the pandemic.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has created a very uncertain landscape for communities and small businesses. With your help, our small family-owned distillery in Livingston can support our local NHS and care workers while building our company’s resilience during challenging times,” Rutasikwa told supporters in a March e-Newsletter to supporters.

“The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our way of life is still unfolding, but it is profound,” she said. “From the uncertainty and chaos, new norms will emerge. And therein lies the big opportunity for our resilient community – to reshape new realities. Above all, now is the time to pull together, look after one another and refuse to let our spirits drop.”

Finally, on the student side, the Northwestern News Network team created a great segment on COVID-19 coverage. And, The Daily Northwestern, under the direction of newly appointed editor Marissa Martinez (BSJ21), has been producing COVID-19 coverage with the help of Daily staffers sheltering at home nationwide. Martinez is interviewed in this Chicago Public Radio station story. First year Medill undergrad, Andrew Rowan, successfully placed his first professional story in Teen Vogue: “With college mental health centers closed, many students are working out the kinks of online therapy,” which came out of research he began in a class in the fall quarter.

Photo credit Gutierrez – MSNBC
Photo credit Malani – University of Michigan
Photo credit distillers: Stewart Attwood

2000s Featured Legacies Featured Legacies Home Legacies

Darran Simon (MSJ04)

Published in the Washington Post – April 10, 2020

Byline: Adam Bernstein, Washington Post
Photo: Darran Simon while at CNN Digital. (Jeremy Freeman/CNN)

Darran Simon, a journalist who developed an expertise reporting on trauma during a wide-ranging career that had recently brought him to The Washington Post, where he covered District politics and government, died April 9, 2020. He was 43.

Simon was born in England and spent his childhood in the South American nation of Guyana and in New Jersey. In his professional life, he displayed restless curiosity as well as deep compassion for people who had endured natural catastrophe and man-made violence.

“I am drawn to writing about suffering and trauma,” he once noted, “because I am in awe of the human spirit’s ability to persevere.”
After two years as the Miami Herald’s minority affairs reporter, he moved to New Orleans in 2007 as an education reporter for the Times-Picayune, compelled to document the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. “Down the road, 35 years from now, when memories are all I have,” he told the University of Rhode Island alumni magazine, “I’ll be able to look back at this time and remember this experience.”

He wrote about school reconstruction and covered accountability issues as well as the upending of students’ lives in a city of dramatic inequities even before the storm. “History often depends on who is telling it,” he said. “My role is to try to understand it and paint a full picture.”

A reserved and conscientious reporter, he went on to cover crime for the Philadelphia Inquirer, was a general assignment reporter for Newsday, and was a senior writer with CNN Digital in Atlanta focusing on national and international breaking news before starting March 2 on The Post’s Metro staff.

In covering the city government’s preparations for handling the coronavirus outbreak, he reported on official pronouncements as well as delivering humane accounts of local victims of the disease, including a former “Jeopardy” contestant.

“Darran had an immediate impact at The Post with his talent, grace and earnest devotion to his work,” said Mike Semel, The Post’s top metro editor. “He was here barely a week when the city he was covering shut down because of coronavirus. But he forged ahead and found great stories to tell.

“Despite his short tenure,” Semel continued, “we entrusted him to write the main coronavirus news story several times over the past couple of weeks — taking feeds from his colleagues and weaving those into a coherent story. He worked so well with everyone and was a graceful, fluid writer. But beyond that, he was just a nice guy with an electric smile.”

Darran Anthony Simon was born in London to Guyanese students on March 18, 1977. He lived in Guyana until he was 9 before the family settled in Iselin, N.J. His mother is a middle-school teacher and his father, an accountant, is a securities regulator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

At the University of Rhode Island, Simon was on the men’s track and field team, won awards for student leadership and shared a top prize from the Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists for a comparative study on black student activism in the 1970s and the 1990s. He graduated in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in English and, energized by his work on the campus newspaper, received a master’s degree in 2004 from Northwestern University’s journalism school.
His marriage to Karin Pryce ended in divorce. Survivors include his parents, Stephen Simon and Jacqueline Simon, both of Iselin; a brother; a sister; and a grandmother.

Simon brought particular sensitivity to follow-up interviews after a tragedy that served to humanize statistics. One example, for CNN, was a profile of the spiritual leader who took over the flock of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., after a white supremacist killed nine members, including its pastor, in 2015.

In July 2019, Simon was among 15 journalists chosen from about 300 applicants for the week-long Ochberg Fellowship at Columbia University journalism school’s Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma.
Dart Center Executive Director Bruce Shapiro called him a “quiet, curious and very deeply engaged journalist” who had spent years writing about survivors of violence in some of the toughest cities in the United States, from New Orleans to Camden, N.J., and how they cope with those experiences.

For all his drive to make loss more intimate, or perhaps because of it, Mr. Simon was also known as a roving epicure with a sharp understated cool to his wardrobe and an ear for sumptuous music. On his website, Simon described himself as a “a foodie and a jazz lover who will travel anywhere for a good meal and a horn section.”

1990s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Duchesne Drew (MSJ94)

Minnesota Public Radio named Duchesne Drew as its next president April 8, 2020.

Drew most recently an executive at the Bush Foundation and spent many years at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where he rose through the ranks from a summer intern to managing editor of operations.

The MPR division within American Public Media Group includes MPR News, Classical MPR, The Current and digital services.

While at the Bush Foundation, Drew served as community vice president, in charge of creating networks across the region. He also sits on the boards of a number of organizations, including the African American Leadership Forum and the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce.

“Charles Whitaker was a central part of my Medill experience,” Drew said. “Even though he focused on magazine journalists and I was heading toward a career as newspaper reporter, he made time for me and it mattered greatly, from conversations in his office to dinner at his house. I felt seen, valued and supported.”

He serves on the Leadership Council of Make It. MSP., an effort to attract “people from around the world” to live and work in the Twin Cities.

Photo courtesy of MPR.

1950s Featured Legacies Legacies

George W. Kelly (BSJ50, MSJ55)

Post author By Belinda Clarke
Post date April 29, 2020
No Comments on George W. Kelly (BSJ50, MSJ55)

George William Kelly passed away April 7, 2020 from the coronavirus after a four-year fight with cancer. He was 92.

Kelly was born August 21, 1927 to James Lamar Kelly and Laurie Kelly (née Brantley) in Evergreen, Ala. He was the second youngest of his siblings, Dorothy, James, Charles, and Robert. Their father was a lawyer and held the Conecuh County Seat.

In World War II, George enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska. After the war, he attended Medill through the G.I. Bill. He also completed post-graduate coursework in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Upon finishing his studies, Kelly worked as a freelance journalist and traveled throughout India in the 1950s travelled extensively in India in the 1950’s, working as a freelance journalist. His then moved to New York where he lived for the rest of his life.

His time in New York saw many chapters that combined his passions for science, cooking, traveling, and writing. He researched at an electron microscopy laboratory at New York University, owned a retail shop importing Indian fighter kites called Go Fly a Kite, owned a cookbook shop–complete with a mascot named Cookie the Minah Bird (Cookbooks Only), worked as a public relations director at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and edited a real estate publication called the Red Book for Yale Robbins Publications.

Kelly also authored poems, stories, songs, and most notably, children’s books. His children’s publications include “What Does the Tooth Fairy Do with All Those Teeth?”, and “Santa Christina and her Sled Dogs,” which was inspired by his time in Alaska.

Kelly married Jain Wright, also a Northwestern graduate, in 1969 and raised one daughter, Georgette.

George is preceded in death by his parents and siblings. He is survived by his wife Jain Kelly, daughter Georgette Kelly (m. Annaliisa Ahlman) of Chicago, and many beloved nieces, ,nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.

http://hosting-26110.tributes.com/obituary/show/George-W.-Kelly-108417508

1970s Legacies

John W. Farley (MSJ73)

Journalist and publisher John Farley died on March 30, 2020. He was a native Washingtonian and lived in the DC metropolitan area for his entire life. He received his BS in Foreign Service at Georgetown University and his masters from Medill.

His career included positions at the Jacksonville Journal, Phillips Publishing Company and The Fund for American Studies. He was an active member of St. Raphael’s Parish Community, served as a docent at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and was active in the Big Brothers of America.

He is survived by his wife, Jean (Nelson) Farley, son, Daniel Farley, daughter, Lauren (Farley) Robarts, sisters, Debbie (Farley) Betts and Sandy (Farley) McGaw, stepmother, Mary Farley and several nieces and nephews.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?n=john-farley&pid=195861732

1950s Featured Legacies Legacies

Howard Fibich (BSJ54, MSJ55)

Post author By Belinda Clarke
Post date April 29, 2020
No Comments on Howard Fibich (BSJ54, MSJ55)

Howard Fibich, 88, of Brookfield, Wisc., died peacefully on February 26, 2020. Fibich was born January 6, 1932 in Oak Park, Ill., and raised in Chicago. He graduated from Schurz High School prior to earning bachelor’s and masters from Medill.

He moved to Wisconsin in 1956 to join the staff of The Milwaukee Journal, where he spent a long and storied career, rising from the copy editing to retire as deputy managing editor in 1993. He was a friend, mentor and frequent goad to two generations of journalists.

Howard was an avid swimmer into his 80s. He competed as a high school athlete and later supplemented college scholarships through summer lifeguard jobs at Lake Geneva. There he met the love of his life, Carrol Jean Anderson. They were married June 5, 1954.

In retirement, he enjoyed travel—particularly trips involving bicycles. He and Carrol were known to log 3,000 miles over Wisconsin’s short cycling season. He had encyclopedic knowledge of jazz, and for about a year did a weekly overnight radio show for WYMS, the Milwaukee Public Schools FM station.His passion for the Chicago Cubs was the dismay of his grandson. Howard also rooted for the Bears, although he warmed to the Green Bay Packers in his later years.

Howard is survived by his wife, Carrol; two daughters, Barbara (Scott Fink) of Middleton, and Linda (William Lawrence) of Catonsville, Md.; and four grandchildren, Amy (Abby) Board of Chicago, Matt Fibich of Wauwatosa, Abby Fink of Minneapolis, and Katie Fink of Montreal, Quebec. His beloved son Steve preceded him in death, lost to cancer in 1995. As Howard wished, no funeral service will be held, and his remains will be cremated. Memorial contributions may be made to The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

https://wnanews.com/2020/03/05/howard-fibich-milwaukee-journal-obituary/

1980s Featured Legacies Legacies

Neil Owen Strassman (MSJ87)

Post author By Belinda Clarke
Post date April 29, 2020
No Comments on Neil Owen Strassman (MSJ87)

Neil Owen Strassman died Feb. 10, 2020. He was 70.

Tribute published in the Oklahoma City Star-Telegram:

“Neil was born in Los Angeles, Calif., in 1949 to Pauline ‘Paula’ Kassam (nee Millman), a schoolteacher, and Harvey Strassman, a psychiatrist. He grew up smack in the middle of the bubbly ’50s and ’60s Jewish community of West LA and Beverly Hills, surrounded by his grandparents (Max and Genia Millman, Moe and Rose Strassman), adored by his mother, spoiled by his aunt Adeline, and loved by his father. Maybe those experiences, combined with Neil’s brilliant mind and inherently social nature, helped impart Neil with a sense of belonging, of having a place in the world.

He was fierce and had firm opinions, yet he remained easygoing and likable. Maybe his personal magnetism simply has no tangible explanation. The fact is that, while many people collect art or stamps or beautiful rocks, Neil collected people. He had the deepest family connections and the most sincere friendships that anyone could hope for.

In the last few weeks of his life, a near-constant flow of family and friends from all over the country came to see Neil at his Oklahoma City home, a testimony to how much he was loved. Neil graduated from the University of California San Diego with a degree in English Literature, and completed his Master’s in Journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Throughout his life, no matter what he was doing, he identified himself first and foremost as a journalist, a profession to which he dedicated himself for several decades. He wrote for a school publication in college, worked for the Long Beach Press Telegram, and wrote for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He even ran a jazz and blues public radio show in Seattle under the hilarious name Nearly-Normal-Neil, with the additional humorous twist of sometimes substituting for himself (!!) under the name Backwater-Eddy.

Neil indeed had a nice sense of humor. There are not enough words to describe his powerful intellect, diverse interests, varied accomplishments, and pointed wit. He was sheer fun to be with! Neil was often found with his nose buried in philosophy texts, Chinese poetry, a horse racing form, the latest environment story, a fishing reel, a pair of skis, itinerary for annual trips to Vancouver Island and Campbell River to salmon fish with his son. A lifelong writer, a machinist or sport fishing boat deckhand in his younger years, chief of staff and office administrator for Tarrant County’s Judge Glen Whitley in his later years, Neil embodied a life focused on intellectual experiences, practical skills, and lifelong friendships. Neil loved his wife, Fatima, very much. And Fatima loved Neil deeply; still does, and always will. Together, they made a family.

Nobody meant more to Neil than his beloved son Joseph, who was the apple of Neil’s eye and the pride of his heart. Neil taught Joe to ski on the slopes, fish in the ocean, camp in the woods, and to dream and aspire to greatness. Neil adored his stepdaughter, Georgia, like a father, and he was so very proud of her. It gave Neil great joy to see Georgia and Max get married, with Joseph standing by their side. Neil was Paula’s only child. Paula was a spirited and intelligent woman who included Neil in everything she did. Neil was loved as a son by his sweet and accomplished stepfather, Abe Kassam, an accountant and businessman, who gave him a marvelous and devoted extended family. His father, Harvey, a brilliant and clear-minded man, imparted on Neil a pragmatic and no-nonsense outlook in life; he also gave Neil four siblings, Debra, David, Michael, and Judy, whom Neil loved very much.

Neil is survived by his wife, Fatima Abrantes-Pais; his son, Joseph Strassman; his stepdaughter and son-in-law, Georgia Shelton and Max Sabor; his siblings, Debra Cowan (Kevin), David Strassman, and Judy (Steve) York; aunt, Adeline Dean and her sons, Michael, Greg, and Bobby; cousins, Philip Aronoff and Salim Janmohammed among many others; his beloved cat, Ich; his love for the Pacific Ocean; and a ton of devoted relatives and friends whose names would cover an entire newspaper page. He was preceded in death by his father, Harvey Strassman; his mother, Pauline Kassam; his stepfather, Abe Kassam; his brother, Michael Strassman; and too many friends who died too soon.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dfw/obituary.aspx?n=neil-owen-strassman&pid=195426100&fhid=8487

1950s Featured Legacies Legacies

John Bell (BSJ55)

John R. Bell, frequent contributor to national financial and real estate magazines, died on January 27, 2020. He was 89.

Born in Hammond, Ind., Bell moved to Chicago as a teenager and lived there for the rest of his life. He wrote the John Carmichael Texaco Sports Final for CBS Radio, and went on to publicize peacetime atomic energy R&D as a member of the first public information staff at Argonne National Laboratory.

While at Argonne, he initiated coverage of the work that Argonne was doing by contacting CBS journalist Charles Collingwood. This resulted in a one-hour program produced and broadcast nationally on CBS.

Bell also worked in corporate PR positions at J. Walter Thompson, General Motors, Montgomery Ward and H. Rozoff and Associates. He added real estate and financial writing to his portfolio when H. Rozoff and Associates obtained a number of real estate and financial accounts.

After he retired, he was a frequent contributor to Mortgage Banking, the official magazine of the Mortgage Banking Association, until it ceased publication in 2016.

His articles for Mortgage Banking included coverage of the growth and recovery of the national office market; profile of Wrightwood Capital, the Chicago-based commercial/real estate finance firm; the growth of mixed use developments; the development of business/industrial parks; the nation’s Downtowns going green; multifamily apartment markets; five-star hotel markets; industrial recovery; the move to Downtowns; and economic growth in gateway cities.

He wrote cover stories for the National Real Estate Investor and his cover story profiles of Chrysler’s CEO Robert Eaton and Wilson Sporting Goods executive Jim Bough appeared in Industry Week (IW).

He was also a contributor to Pension Management, the Journal of Property Management (JPM), Progressive Railroading, Flying Careers, Air Cargo World, and Cahners Assembly Magazine.

Bell enjoyed music, the theater, and raising English Bulldogs—and said he had created the world’s finest barbecue sauce.

He and his wife, Virginia, celebrated their 68th Wedding Anniversary Sept. 8, 2019. They have two daughters, Monica (John) Muhs and Vanessa (Leon) LaSota; three grand-daughters, Dr. Amanda (Alex) Saratsis, Sara Muhs, and Leigh (AJ) Grimberg; and two great-grandchildren, Beckett and Eva Saratsis.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?n=john-r-bell&pid=195132717&fhid=2060

1980s Legacies

Maureen Quaid (MSJ83)

Maureen Angela Quaid died Jan. 1, 2020, in Minneapolis due to complications from breast cancer.

Maureen was born in Chicago, March 12, 1956, to Francis “Duke” Quaid and Angela Quaid (Fazio). After attending high school in Illinois (River Forest, Oak Park, Evanston) and Wisconsin (Wauwatosa), Maureen received an honors B.A. in psychology from Arizona State Univ. (1978) and her masters from Medill.

Maureen worked for more than 25 years in the clean energy industry, devoted to protecting the future of our world through energy efficiency and renewable energy. She began her career as a researcher for the Minneapolis and Washington State Energy Offices, then helped build new clean energy programs in Oregon, New Jersey, Colorado and New Mexico. She returned to Minnesota in 2017 to consult and write.

She is survived by her daughter, Brett Quaid Ford; her two older brothers, Francis and Hubert; and three younger half-brothers, Shawn, Ted and O’Brien.
https://obits.oregonlive.com/obituaries/oregon/obituary.aspx?n=maureen-angela-quaid&pid=194986802

1950s Legacies

Edgar Coudal (BSJ56)

Edgar Franklin “Ed” Coudal died Saturday, December 21, 2019, in Sarasota, Florida. He was 84.

He leaves behind his longtime partner and love, Martha Montague; his five children and their spouses: James Coudal (Heidi), Mary Beth Coudal (Chris Jones), John Coudal (Laurie), Brendan Coudal (Nicole), Mary Kate Sweeney (Jed), and Martha’s children, Kristin (Jack) and Scott (Irene). He was lovingly known as “Bestefar,” to his 12 grandchildren.

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Ed was the son of Nels and Jenny (Halsor) Coudal. He graduated from Chicago’s Steinmetz High School in 1952, and Northwestern University in 1956.

He married Mary Lou Wade of Chicago in 1957 and they lived in Baltimore and San Francisco while he served in the U.S. Army. Ed later joined the Chicago American newspaper as a reporter and went on to serve as an editor and writer for the Chicago Today newspaper. He worked for the Young & Rubicam advertising agency and the Pullman Corporation as a public relations executive.

He founded Coudal & Associates, a public relations consultancy. The Coudals started family life in Skokie, IL, St. Joan of Arc parish, and then settled in Park Ridge, IL, Mary Seat of Wisdom parish. After divorcing, Ed moved to the Sarasota area 30 years ago, where he met Ms. Montague. He was a long time resident of Siesta Key. Edgar’s love for Chicago and its history never wavered, nor did his passion for the Chicago Cubs.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/heraldtribune/obituary.aspx?n=edgar-coudal&pid=194837342&fhid=38765

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