Schogal, Longtime 'Inky' Editor/Reporter, Dies at 58

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By: Marc Schogol, a veteran reporter and editor who spent four decades at The Philadelphia Inquirer, died after a 24-year battle with leukemia. He was 58.

Schogol died Sunday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, according to his family.

Schogol received dozens of writing awards over his career and was on a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for coverage of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.

"He was fast, good, and could be counted on to deliver news accounts that were thorough, fair and impeccably accurate," said Gene Foreman, the newspaper's former managing editor. "Marc was the exemplary backbone of The Inquirer's reporting staff for more than three decades."

He covered many high-profile stories, including obituaries for Elvis Presley and a flight officer on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center in Sept. 11; the 1977 flood in Johnstown; the right-to-die case of Terri Schiavo; and the story of Alex Scott, who died at age 8 from pediatric cancer after raising millions for cancer research through lemonade stand sales.

Schogol, who got his first journalism job as a copy boy for The Associated Press, also worked for Newsday on Long Island and the Elizabeth (N.J.) Journal. He was hired at The Inquirer in 1974.

His cancer went into and out of remission over the years. He was hospitalized in January and underwent two bone-marrow transplants before retiring from The Inquirer several weeks ago.

In addition to his wife, Schogol is survived by three children, his parents, a brother and a sister.

A viewing was scheduled for Thursday, followed by a funeral service Friday at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in suburban Philadelphia. Burial will be private.

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