Tributes

Elizabeth Duff Schogol, former Inquirer reporter By Sally A. Downey Inquirer Staff Writer Elizabeth Duff Schogol covered energy, federal courts, more. Elizabeth Duff Schogol, 62, of Drexel Hill, an award-winning Inquirer reporter, died of pneumonia Sunday, June 24, at Roxborough Memorial Hospital. In the early 1970s, Elizabeth Duff was among a group of young writers hired to rejuvenate the paper. The reporters became part of a team that executive editor Eugene L. Roberts Jr. formed to investigate trends in society and develop a distinctive style of storytelling, said Mike Leary, now a deputy managing editor. She traveled to Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming to cover the energy crisis. She also covered federal courts, analyzed census data, and wrote features, profiles, and breaking news stories. "Elizabeth was tenacious, determined, and courageous," Inquirer editor William K. Marimow said. Marimow, who worked with her when they were both reporters, recalled how she once posed as a pregnant woman to document questionable practices at a local abortion clinic. Occasionally she shared front-page stories with another Inquirer reporter, Marc Schogol. "I saw this new guy in blue jeans, a work shirt and long hair," she later wrote. "I was drawn to him because of his kindness and talent." The couple married in 1975, and the next year they both won Keystone Press Awards for articles they wrote. After their first child was born in 1979, Mrs. Schogol stayed home with her family, where she wrote freelance articles for The Inquirer, Redbook, and Working Mother magazines and Milestones, a publication of the Philadelphia Corp. for Aging. Mrs. Schogol happened to be nearby in April, 1991 when a plane carrying Sen. John Heinz collided with a helicopter over a school yard in Merion. Though she was no longer on the staff, Mrs. Schogol immediately called the Inquirer and began reporting from the scene. Heinz, two children, and four other adults were killed. The Inquirer won a Society of Professional Journalists, Greater Philadelphia Chapter, award for its coverage. In 1982, Marc Schogol was found to have leukemia. With his wife's help, he remained at The Inquirer for 24 more years while battling the disease. When he died in 2007, Mrs. Schogol said he had been her best friend: "I cannot imagine life without him. I am grateful for a faith that believes in everlasting life. He will always be with me and the kids." After her husband's death, Mrs. Schogol continued to write freelance for the Inquirer, including her personal experience receiving Botox treatments for migraines and an essay about her relationship with her father, John W. Duff, a widower. She was grateful, she said, for the advice her father gave her about Fountain Creek Farms, a property she inherited in Iroquois County, Ill. From 2000 to 2008 she supervised business operations for the 200-acre crop farm. She was a devoted "nana" and, until becoming ill, babysat her granddaughter Claire Pidot two days a week. Mrs. Schogol grew up with three sisters in Watseka, Ill. She returned to the Midwest every year with her husband and children to vacation with her parents on a lake in Wisconsin. While attending the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, she interned at The Inquirer in the summer of 1971. "We have a picture of her covering the Camden riots," her son, Jeff, said. "She is interviewing a group of men while a building burns down in the background." In her senior year at Northwestern, Mrs. Schogol was a member of Mortar Board, the women's honor society, and had a "feisty debate" with a Playboy bunny. "It caused a sensation on campus," said Lorrie Yapczenski DeSimone, a former classmate and NBC10 reporter. When she graduated in 1972, Mrs. Schogol's photograph appeared on the cover of Glamour as one of the top 10 women college graduates. She worked briefly for the Miami Herald before joining The Inquirer. "Elizabeth had fabulous manners," said Beth Gillen, a retired Inquirer reporter and longtime friend. "She taught her kids how to write their names and then had them writing thank-you notes. She was naturally gracious. When I visited the hospital, she kept introducing me to the staff. I told her: 'You have to relax and stop playing hostess.' " In addition to her son, father, and sisters, Mrs. Schogol is survived by daughters Katie and Carolyn, and a granddaughter. The family will receive guests Friday evening from 6-8 PM in the Chadwick & McKinney Funeral Home, 30 E. Athens Ave. Ardmore, PA. Her Memorial Service will be held on Sat. June 30th, 11 AM in the Sanctuary of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to Sister Catherine FitzPatrick Endowed Scholarship Fund at Merion Mercy Academy, 511 Montgomery Ave., Merion Station, PA 19066.

Tributes

Elizabeth Duff Schogol

May 16, 1950 - June 24, 2012