"Elizabeth was tenacious, determined, and courageous," Inquirer editor William K. Marimow said. Marimow, who worked with her when they were both reporters, recalled how she once posed as a pregnant woman to document questionable practices at a local abortion clinic.
Occasionally she shared front-page stories with another Inquirer reporter, Marc Schogol.
"I saw this new guy in blue jeans, a work shirt and long hair," she later wrote. "I was drawn to him because of his kindness and talent."
The couple married in 1975, and the next year they both won Keystone Press Awards for articles they wrote.
After their first child was born in 1979, Mrs. Schogol stayed home with her family, where she wrote freelance articles for The Inquirer, Redbook, and Working Mother magazines and Milestones, a publication of the Philadelphia Corp. for Aging.
Mrs. Schogol happened to be nearby in April, 1991 when a plane carrying Sen. John Heinz collided with a helicopter over a school yard in Merion. Though she was no longer on the staff, Mrs. Schogol immediately called the Inquirer and began reporting from the scene. Heinz, two children, and four other adults were killed. The Inquirer won a Society of Professional Journalists, Greater Philadelphia Chapter, award for its coverage.
In 1982, Marc Schogol was found to have leukemia. With his wife's help, he remained at The Inquirer for 24 more years while battling the disease.
When he died in 2007, Mrs. Schogol said he had been her best friend: "I cannot imagine life without him. I am grateful for a faith that believes in everlasting life. He will always be with me and the kids."
After her husband's death, Mrs. Schogol continued to write freelance for the Inquirer, including her personal experience receiving Botox treatments for migraines and an essay about her relationship with her father, John W. Duff, a widower.
She was grateful, she said, for the advice her father gave her about Fountain Creek Farms, a property she inherited in Iroquois County, Ill. From 2000 to 2008 she supervised business operations for the 200-acre crop farm.
She was a devoted "nana" and, until becoming ill, babysat her granddaughter Claire Pidot two days a week.
Mrs. Schogol grew up with three sisters in Watseka, Ill. She returned to the Midwest every year with her husband and children to vacation with her parents on a lake in Wisconsin.
While attending the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, she interned at The Inquirer in the summer of 1971. "We have a picture of her covering the Camden riots," her son, Jeff, said. "She is interviewing a group of men while a building burns down in the background."
In her senior year at Northwestern, Mrs. Schogol was a member of Mortar Board, the women's honor society, and had a "feisty debate" with a Playboy bunny. "It caused a sensation on campus," said Lorrie Yapczenski DeSimone, a former classmate and NBC10 reporter.
When she graduated in 1972, Mrs. Schogol's photograph appeared on the cover of Glamour as one of the top 10 women college graduates. She worked briefly for the Miami Herald before joining The Inquirer.
"Elizabeth had fabulous manners," said Beth Gillen, a retired Inquirer reporter and longtime friend. "She taught her kids how to write their names and then had them writing thank-you notes. She was naturally gracious. When I visited the hospital, she kept introducing me to the staff. I told her: 'You have to relax and stop playing hostess.' "
In addition to her son, father, and sisters, Mrs. Schogol is survived by daughters Katie and Carolyn, and a granddaughter.
A service will be held this week at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Ave.
Contact Sally A. Downey at 215-854-2913 or sdowney@phillynews.com.
