Cheryl Ann Russell

1953 - 2022

Cheryl Ann Russell
January 6, 1953 - July 4, 2022
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Our universes are ripped apart with the abrupt passing of Cheryl Ann Russell, who died on July 4, 2022 from complications of a sudden, aggressive cancer.
Cherie was always intensely animated with curiosity, amazement, anger, or joy, and could be relied on to debate the most obscure political point or demographic statistic.
Cherie was a writer, editor, and demographer. She could absorb information, remap it, come up with a new perspective, and communicate it brilliantly. She worked as the editor-in-chief at American Demographics magazine before becoming a partner in New Strategist Publications, where she wrote and edited demographic books for over two decades. She was a trusted source for many journalists who sought her insights on demographic trends. Cherie also authored her own books on demographic trends. Cherie's editing mantras have made impressions on her friends, colleagues, and children.
Cherie was a self-described obsessive-compulsive, especially about numbers. She kept a blog, Demo Memo, where she wrote about demographic trends interesting to her. She couldn't stop writing this blog even after she retired, and she kept it going until her death.
Cherie was an experiential. She and Rick loved to experience new art, travel, performance, and food together. Cherie had a big heart and loved her kids, both those born to her and those she accepted as family.
Born on January 6, 1953 in Wiesbaden, Germany, Cherie grew up in Indiana, PA and Sewickley, PA. She went to Earlham College before moving to Washington, D.C. with Tom Parker, to whom she was briefly married, and finished her degree at George Washington University in 1975. She moved to Ithaca, New York, where she earned a master's degree in demography at Cornell University in 1980, and met Rick, the love of her life. In 2000, Cherie and Rick moved to Beaufort, South Carolina, with their kids, Sky and Julie. Cherie and Rick moved back to Pittsburgh in 2015 when their kids coincidentally both ended up there after they left home.
Cherie's intensity, passion, and even her testy impatience endeared her to many close friends. These qualities are among the parts of her that live on through her children.
Cherie is survived by her husband of nearly 38 years, Richard "Rick" Leonard Eckstrom; their son and daughter, Sky Eckstrom and Julien "Julie" Evelyn Eckstrom (Kevin); her brother David Stephens Russell (Martha); and Rick and Cherie's beloved dog, Bean. She was the daughter of David Trader Russell and Marion "Penny" Elizabeth Stephens.
A celebration of Cherie's life will be held in Pittsburgh in late summer. The family asks that donations be made to the ACLU, the NAACP, or the Southern Poverty Law Centerâ€"each doing the work Cherie believed important.
Arrangements by Natural Funeral Company.