Eileen Shanahan Obituary
After a lengthy illness, Shanahan, who lived in Washington, died Thursday. Shanahan had been homebound for several months and was awaiting hip surgery.
In her long career, Shanahan pushed into uncharted territory for women, first with her reporting, then in court.
She was the first female reporter hired in the Times' Washington bureau for an assignment other than coverage of presidential wives. Although women were not allowed to become editors at the Times until years later, Shanahan edited several eight-page federal budget sections the paper ran annually in the 1970s.
Nan Robertson, a former New York Times reporter, said Shanahan created a path that dozens of female reporters followed.
"She was a fabulous person, sturdy and stouthearted," Robertson said. "She was one of the finest reporters of her time."
In 1974, she joined other New York Times women, as one of seven "named plaintiffs," in a class action lawsuit against the newspaper. The suit sought pay and assignments equal to those of men with similar experience.
The lawsuit prompted the Times to disclose that of 31 reporters and editors in the Washington bureau, veteran Shanahan was paid less than every man, except one young reporter.
Shanahan left the Times because she thought editors would punish her for the lawsuit, which was settled in 1977. Switching gears, she joined the administration of President Carter as the top public affairs officer for the old Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
She returned to journalism in 1979 as assistant managing editor of The Washington Star. After the Star closed in 1981, she took a similar job at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
In 1987, she became founding editor of Governing, the first national magazine devoted exclusively to coverage of state and local governments. In all her posts, Shanahan worked for the advancement of minority and women reporters, said Jean White, a friend and former reporter at The Washington Post.
She ended her formal career as a Washington correspondent for the St. Petersburg Times in 1994.
She is survived by two daughters.
Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press
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Christopher Lydon
November 26, 2001
I remember Eileen saying she didn't like to be considered "tough," or a "tough broad" in any general sense, and she wasn't. In the Washington reporting biz, which she adored, she took for granted a certain kind of defiance and grit, along with fiendish hard work and subdued political fire. But then it was all a very heady professionalism that drove her, with a lot of fun on the job. Feminist though she was, Eileen was a protective champion of all kinds of younger practitioners, including guys, including me. She knew everything about journalism and shared it. The trick to writing a Sunday "Week in Review" piece on a story you'd covered all week, she said, was "use your best kicker as your lead, and use your best lead as your kicker." She was a very sociable person who loved the fellowship of the Times Washington Bureau--in the glory days of Krock, Reston, Belair, Wicker, Frankel, Lewis, Baker, Shannon, Finney, Sheehan, Szulc et al.--more than anything. It is an unspeakable sadness that the Times' manipulation of women's salaries turned into a stubbornly ugly issue that made it impossible for Eileen to stay in the only job she ever wanted. She was one marvellous newspaper pro.
Lorraine Iannello
November 7, 2001
Long before the popularity of job coaches, Eileen Shanahan, mentor extraordinaire, learned and passed along the secret handshakes.
I met Eileen at the annual Journalism and Women Symposium. Once, when she knew that I was looking for work after moving to Seattle where my husband landed a job, Eileen asked me simply, "Have you used your women's network?" Then she commanded me sharply, "Use your women's network." I did. It worked. I think of her words all the time.
Of her many contributions to the JAWS silent auction, at least two underscored her status as a veteran observer of the women's rights movement. One, a sky blue T-shirt, reads "1977 National Women's Conference" and "Women on the Move." The other, a pendant, shows four women hoisting the female gender symbol, Iwo-Jima style, with "Never another season of silence" and "1966" on one side, and "Failure Is Impossible" on the other.
It was impossible not to gain wisdom and inspiration from Eileen.
Thank you Eileen,
Lorraine
Sue Kaufman
November 6, 2001
We've lost one wonderful, fun-loving and powerful friend, mentor and colleague.
I recall one bumpy ride in a hotel shuttle bus in the Rockies when Eileen told me of her father's work with Eugene Debs. We talked about the Debs museum in Terre Haute, and mourned the passing of the glory days of U.S. rail travel.
Let's hope that the young women Eileen helped bring together in the Journalism and Women's Symposium will find her story and the stories of others we've lost in recent years (add Donna Allen to the list) worthy of retelling.
Sue Kaufman, Ph.D.
Professor of Journalism
Eastern Illinois University
University Professionals of Illinois, Local l4100 IFT-AFT/AFL-CIO Secy'-Treas.
VP Illinois Federation of Teachers
Margie Freivogel
November 6, 2001
I'm one of the many who drew from Eileen's well of courage and wisdom. Her intelligence, enthusiasm and generosity were legendary. She was at once rigorous and passionate, demanding and understanding, always realistic and ever hopeful about the state of the world and journalism. These paradoxical attributes might have diminished a lesser person. In Eileen, they forged a strength of character and spirit that never wavered. She'll continue to set the standard in our hearts.
Margie Freivogel
Sunday editor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Kathleen Shea
November 6, 2001
Every woman making a decent living in journalism owes Eileen Shanahan and all the other indominable "Girls in the Balcony." May she rest in well-deserved peace.
Bil Eaton
November 5, 2001
Eileen was a great journalist and a wonderful colleague when she shattered the gender barrier on the Washington economics beat in the 1960's and later. She had an inquiring mind and I recall how she often pressed for detailed explanations of complex issues, saying: 'I may be ignorant, but I'm not stupid.' Boy, was that an
understatement. We always will need more Eileen Shanahans to seek and report the truth.
Lucy Morgan
November 5, 2001
Eileen was a tough lady, ready to fight for facts and news stories and always willing to teach the women who were coming behind her. Women in journalism today owe her a great debt.
Lynn Povich
November 5, 2001
To Eileen, one of the great, early feminists and mentors.
I met you after Newsweek sued for sex discrimination in 1970 and you and others at the Times were contemplating the same, and using our wonderful lawyer Harriett Rabb. You were committed, angry, loyal and inspiring, and we had many long talks about the role of women in journalism. I shall never forget your fight and generosity.
Maybe Gloria Steinem was right: the older women get the more radical we become.
We'll miss you and remember you,
Lynn Povich
Geneva Overholser
November 5, 2001
Dear Eileen,
You were one of the heroes, a hero of the very best kind -- irreverant, engaging, iconoclastic and unendingly generous with your gifts. May your eternal presence, watching over us, spur us all to our own acts of heroism.
With great affection and gratitude,
Geneva Overholser
Doreen Carvajal
November 5, 2001
I read about Eileen Shanahan's obituary with great sadness. While I was working at the New York Times, she would still make appearances at various lunches for reporters or editors. She was full of personality and left it to others to fill in the details of her legacy at the New York Times. She was an example for us all.
Betty Medsger
November 4, 2001
Eileen was a giant -- as a journalist, as a fighter for equality for herself and for others. I met her in the early '70's when we both worked in Washington. She was being treated very unfairly. At the same time, she was doing extraordinary work. She loved journalism no matter how badly some of its bosses treated her. Thanks to her, more fairness exists today in some news organizations because she had the courage to fight. Thanks, Eileen (and Nan and Betsy and Joan and all those other great women at the New York Times who helped the rest of us)
Sharon Rosenhause
November 4, 2001
Eileen was a friend, mentor and inspiration. Wherever she is, you just know she's raising hell.
Zoe Cabaniss Friloux
November 3, 2001
I only knew of Eileen until I was a fellow in the Maynard Institute's Editing Program at the University of Arizona in 1998. She was on the Maynard faculty that year (and many others), and although I didn't always agree with her views, it was obvious that she knew what she was talking about. She was a treasure-trove of knowledge: Women in media, the importance of journalists knowing math, freedom of information laws ... the list goes on. We need more like her.
Patricia Sullivan
November 3, 2001
When I once told Eileen that I didn't want to be an editor, she scolded me to keep that thought to myself because I might change my mind -- or someone might not give me a chance to try it later. She insisted that numbers are not mysterious or that there is any such thing as a "math gene." She offered excellent advice when I called her about how to create a budget when I did become an editor ... and she checked to make sure I was taking care of myself financially by investing for retirement.
And even in her eighth decade, she remained engaged with the world around her, whether by hiking mountain trails, walking Austin's streets to see the bats flock at sunset, probing the life story of a mutual friend who turned to journalism after years of labor union activism, or quizzing me in-depth about the Internet's structure, future and foibles. I'll miss her terribly.
Jaime Diaz
November 3, 2001
I only knew Eileen for a few weeks in 1978, but I'll never forget her. As a student in the Summer Program for Minority Journalists in Berkeley, I was totally lacking in confidence and quite sure I'd never cut it in this business. Eileen very obviously had a steel backbone that could be intimidating, but in my case she took a nuturing approach that helped me absorb some hard truths and gain some footing. She was the right person at the right time at a crucial point in my life, as I'm sure she was for so many journalists.
Susy Schultz
November 3, 2001
I was one of many who met Eileen at at JAWS, Journalism and Womens Symposium. She was a friend and a mentor who loved her career and her family. So, she had good advice about both. From dust bunnies to documents, she always laid it out and told you the tough, practical stuff that moved you ahead. One particular bit of wisdom, I carry with me always. In 1995, after a difficult meeting in New York, she came up to me and said: "You remind me of me when I was young. But let me give you one piece of advice, you gotta know when to shut-up."
Alvin Shuster
November 2, 2001
Eileen never met a complicated story she didn't like. The more statistics, the better. I remember her so well--I was the assistant news editor in the Washington Bureau of the New York Times and Eileen and her colleague, Ed Dale, lived and breathed budgets, projections and deadlines. I loved the way Eileen tackled a story--a big, fat book of stats in front of her, a few minutes of silence, followed by a scream when she uncovered that buried figure on page 1067. "Here it is!, she would yell to Ed, who sat nearby. "I knew that", said Ed, lighting another cigarette. A great journalist, a wonderful friend and colleague, a credit (she would love that word) to her profession. Alvin Shuster, Los Angeles Times
Charley Blaine
November 2, 2001
I met Eileen one year when she did a little work at USA Today. She was funny, opinionated, very smart and very helpful. Our business has lost a really good one.
Raise hell up there. They need it.
Dana Calvo
November 2, 2001
Toward the end of an unpaid summer internship about 12 years ago at Governing Magazine, Eileen Shanahan introduced herself. She asked me what my "intentions" were in terms of journalism. The next week she brought in a copy of the class action lawsuit so I could read it. As she handed it over she said, "This is something every woman in a newsroom should make required reading."
Dana Calvo, Los Angeles Times
Rob Gurwitt
November 2, 2001
Eileen hired me in 1987, to help get Governing’s first issue out. It was supposed to be a two-week stint; I still work for them. She could be ornery, and she was always demanding. But what she demanded was that stories be right, not just in their facts, but in how they got put down in words. Never give a statistic without putting it in context. Nail down the little details. Don’t just dwell on what’s wrong with the world—tell us what people are doing about it. And work on a piece—and work, and work—until you’ve “broken its back,” as she liked to put it. It was a graphic phrase, but not a surprising one coming from Eileen, who grappled with and was engaged by her craft long after most people would have pulled out and headed off to their cabin in West Virginia. She was a generous, lively, outsized presence, and our profession is a bit poorer today.
Mia Navarro
November 2, 2001
I met Eileen through the Summer Program for Minority Journalists at UC-Berkeley in 1979 and I can still hear her in the classroom -- "Don't be afraid of numbers!" "Never assume!" She was caring, funny, blunt and wise. She was forever my mentor and I can't believe I won't be taking her to Yankee Stadium to watch a ballgame like she wanted. She, however, lived long enough to be immensely gratified by one news development: the New York Times named a woman -- a woman! -- Washington bureau chief. Mia Navarro
Bill Woo
November 2, 2001
Dear Friends of Eileen Shanahan:
I met Eileen many years ago, when I needed some help with a difficult decision I was facing at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I had known of her, of course, and had respected her from afar.
Eileen didn't know me, but she took time to see me, to hear me out as if she had all the time in the world and to give some excellent advice -- which to my regret I did not act upon.
She was wonderfully engaged about those issues in journalism that are at its heart and center, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to have had her counsel and to have seen her again over the years.
Sincerely,
William F. Woo
Martha Bridegam
November 2, 2001
I was lucky enough to meet Eileen Shanahan while working as a CQ intern in 1987. She said one of her proudest moments was being introduced by a younger woman journalist who said, "She went ahead of us with a machete."
Chris Black
November 2, 2001
When I first came to Washington as a young reporter for the Lowell Sun in 1974, I was awed by Eileen Shanahan. She was the only reporter in town who could make any sense of tax policy. I, like every other young regional reporter, would clip her articles. She was an extraordinary role model for a young female reporter.
Pam Johnson
November 2, 2001
I had the good fortune to meet Eileen through the annual fall camp of the Journalism and Women's Symposium. She was inspirational. She was one of a cadre of women who made it in journalism when the odds were against them. She and others provided many of us with the confidence that we, too, could make it make it in journalism and -- most important -- make a difference. I ache over her loss, but am forever grateful to have witnessed her pioneering spirit and keen mind.
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