Walter Trohan

TROHAN, WALTER (Age 100)

WALTER TROHAN, former Washington Bureau Chief of the Chicago Tribune, died Thursday, October 30, 2003, at Howard Community Hospital in Columbia, MD, at the age of 100. He was born July 4, 1903 in Mt. Carmel, PA. Mr. Trohan grew up in Chicago and began his career as a reporter at the Daily Calumet prior to his enrollment at the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated in 1926.

The Tribune hired Mr. Trohan on February 25, 1929, shortly after he had covered the St. Valentine's Day massace for the City News Bureau. Following five years of covering the Cook County Building and courts, Mr. Trohan was transfered to Washington in 1934. Of those days, Trohan said, "I could wander all over the White House, call Cabinet members on the telephone and they would talk to me -- sometimes even ask about what the president had told me." Trohan became the Washington bureau chief in 1949, shortly after the paper published the infamous headline, "Dewey Defeats Truman."

In 1951, Trohan was the first to learn that President Harry Truman planned to fire General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of the UN forces in Korea, for insubordination and refusing to conduct a limited war. After discovering Mr. Trohan knew, Truman announced the action at 1 a.m. to prevent the exclusive.

Mr. Truhan was president of the White House Correspondents Association in 1937-38 and the Gridiron Club in 1967.

He retired as Bureau Chief in 1969, and from his radio broadcast and column in 1972, after which he and his wife moved to County Clare, Ireland, In 1975 he published his memoirs, "Political Animals." He returned to the U.S. in 1978, settling in Columbia, MD.

Caraol Rowland Trohan, his wife of 67 years, died in 1996. He is survived by two daughters and a son, Carol Clover of Santa Rosa, CA, Nancy Dollar of Columbia, MD and Walter Trohan Jr. of Silver Spring, MD. he is also survived by eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be Monday between 4 and 8 p.m. at the WITZKE FUNERAL HOME IN COLUMBIA, 5555 Twin Knolls Rd., Columbia, MD 21045. Graveside services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Gate of heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, MD. Family has requested donations to the Alzheimer's Association, Central Maryland Chapter, 1850 York Rd., Suite D, Timonium, MD 21093. Arrangements by the WITZKE FUNERAL HOMES, INC. OF COLUMBIA (410) 992-0680.