Journalist Tom Fogarty dies at 59
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
By CATHARINE HUDDLE and RICHARD PIERSOL / Lincoln Journal Star
The FogCol is silent.
That was the slug, the amusing and admiring name with two meanings, on Tom Fogarty’s weekly political column published in the Lincoln Journal during the late 1970s and ’80s.
It was a guide through the fog of political obfuscation and the smokescreens of government, required reading for public-policy readers in Lincoln, not to mention Nebraska and points beyond.
Fogarty told stories for a living. He told them when he wasn’t working, too, and very well, because he couldn’t help himself.
Fogarty, 59, died Tuesday at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., three weeks after being diagnosed with kidney cancer.
He reported and wrote on state government and politics and the Nebraska Legislature for the Lincoln Journal from 1978 to 1985, then covered Iowa politics for the Des Moines Register from 1985 to 1999, when he moved to USA Today. He was economics editor there until his death.
“I learned political reporting from one of the best, Thomas A. Fogarty,” said former Lincoln Journal Star Editor Kathleen Rutledge, who covered the Nebraska Statehouse with Fogarty.
“He taught me during the Thone and Kerrey years that politics is serious business — and the jolliest of fun. We’ve lost a good man and a sterling journalist.”
Fogarty was press secretary for Rep. John Cavanaugh, D-2nd District, and a reporter at the Kansas City Times before moving to Lincoln.
He was an Omaha native. At the time of his death, he and his wife, Suzi, lived in Vienna, Va.
Fogarty was also an avid bicyclist and rode on RAGBRAI, the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, for 13 years.
“Tom was the best colleague, friend and newspaperman imaginable,” former Register reporter Jane Norman wrote on a Web site dedicated to Fogarty. “Tom always reminded me of the legendary humorist Robert Benchley, with his wit, gift for storytelling and love of a good party.”
Services will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at USA Today headquarters, 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, Va.
A memorial Mass in Omaha is scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 20 at St. John's Church at Creighton University.
Go to carepages.com to read the circumstances of Fogarty’s illness and comments from friends and family around the world.
Reach Catharine Huddle at 473-7222 or chuddle@journalstar.com.
Post Your Comment
Standards and RulesYour posted comment will appear after it has been approved.
Frequently asked questions about story commenting.
Erin wrote on December 3, 2008 12:46 pm:
A nephew wrote on December 3, 2008 9:34 pm:
Toms Son wrote on December 4, 2008 11:41 am:
See you all too soon. Thank you for the tribute to my father. I've known he was a special man for as long as I can remember. It is heartwarming to see how deeply my father touched the many wonderful people he surrounded himself with throughout his entire life.
He was many things to many people, but never faulted as a father and rolemodel. He is sorely missed.
Stephen "