Irene H. McCarthy

Renee Winkler McCarthy, a long-time courts and criminal justice reporter for Gannet's Courier Post in Camden County, died Friday, September 12, 2025, at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden after a short illness. She was 81.

Known as a feisty, aggressive reporter who for decades covered the Camden and Burlington county courts and criminal justice issues, Winkler spent her life at the Courier where she retired in 2008.

A 1966 business and communications degree graduate from Temple University, Winkler spent her college years working at the Temple News, the school's newspaper, and for the university's Public Relations office.

"She had a reputation throughout her career as a hard-hitting reporter who did not suffer fools," said Arlene Notoro Morgan who forged a 63-year friendship with Winkler from her first days at the Temple News. Winkler, a native of Secane, Delaware County, was recruiting for the school newspaper when they met.

Winkler, a graduate of Notre Dame High School, was married to the late Jack McCarthy, a Social Security administrator who, with his wife's interest in early and mid-Century antiques, forged a second career as an Estate and Antiques expert. Prior to McCarthy's death in 2008, the couple owned a home in Jim Thorpe, Pa., a region with scores of antique stories and flea markets.

"They owned a pick up truck just to use when they found a great piece of furniture that they would take home to restore and often sell," said Morgan. "Their house in Mayfair in Philadelphia was overstuffed with interesting pieces of art, furniture, fancy dishes and lots of Phillies and Eagles mementoes."

In addition to her reporting and writing talents, Winkler was a born craftsman who could hang wallpaper, reupholster a chair, or make curtains for the living room.

"Each Christmas she would show up with some incredible piece of her artistry for my children who thought of her as a member of the family," said Elizabeth Crafton, one of Morgan's daughters.

After the death of her husband, Winkler moved to the Haddonview apartment complex in Haddon Township, where she made dozens of friends, joined the book club as well as a breakfast club at the nearby McDonald's. She attended adult classes at Temple and Camden County Community College and served as a volunteer at the local library and at community events, including Farmer's Markets that dotted the area from Spring through Fall.

"I could never find her at home," said her only child, Brendan McCarthy of Philadelphia. "She was often in her building's recreation room, talking to friends, or visiting a flea market or giving away something to a charity." She was a major donor - and buyer - particularly at the Samaritan Thrift store in Haddon Township.

In addition to her son, Winkler is survived by a daughter-in-law Sharon and two grandchildren, Daniel, a student at Temple University's Boyer School of Music, and Mia, a student at American University in Washington, D.C.

Rather than a formal funeral service, Winkler asked that she be cremated and remembered at a "great lunch, with an open bar,' the date of which is still to be decided.