Sarah Howard Widman, Ursinus spokeswoman

Sarah H. Widman
Sarah H. Widman
By Walter F. Naedele, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: June 22, 2012

Sarah Howard Widman, 67, of Trappe, spokeswoman for Ursinus College from 1990 until she retired in 2009, died Tuesday, June 19, at Phoenixville Hospital of a myelodysplastic syndrome, which affects the blood and the bone marrow.

Mrs. Widman was president in 2005 of the College and University Public Relations Association of Pennsylvania, now known as the Association of Communicators in Education. She earned its Don Hale Award for Service in 2009.

Her husband, George, a retired photographer for the Associated Press in Philadelphia, said her work as a newspaper reporter in Upstate New York groomed her for her Ursinus career. "I think she took on PR as a real challenge," he said, but "when she dealt with the press, they knew that she was straight with them."

At the same time, he said, "she understood the other side - what will her employers think? So she walked that fine line."

Born in Cincinnati, Mrs. Widman graduated from Withrow High School there in 1963 and earned a bachelor's in English at the University of Cincinnati in 1967.

She was a reporter in Binghamton, N.Y., in the 1960s and in Utica, N.Y., in the 1970s. For a time, her husband said, she was the president of the newsroom labor union at Utica.

In 1983, she began her career at Ursinus as a part-time editor of Ursinus Magazine, the publication for alumni, and in 1986, she became a full-time editor there.

She was named Ursinus' director of communications in 1990. In 2002, her title became director of college communications and Web information.

Mrs. Widman was a member of the Ursinus College choir and the choir at Trinity Reformed Church in Collegeville.

She was a member of the college's lectures committee and of several planning and policy groups on campus.

Besides her husband, Mrs. Widman is survived by sons Robert and James; a grandson; a brother; and a sister.

A visitation was set from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. Friday, June 22, at Trinity Reformed Church, 532 E. Main St., Collegeville, before an 11 a.m. funeral there, with burial in the church cemetery.

Contact Walter F. Naedele at 215-854-5607 or wnaedele@phillynews.com.

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