Marjorie David was the first editor of the Tribune’s WOMANEWS section, which was launched in 1991 and designed to reflect the changes in the lives of women as they balanced home, family, work and community.
David brought a love of arts and culture to her work in editing the paper’s various features sections.
“She was one of the generally unsung reasons for the paper’s greatness, part of a large and deep infrastructure of versatile professionals with the highest standards who kept a complex organism running at peak efficiency,” said former Tribune managing editor James Warren.
David, 74, died Aug. 20 at NorthShore Evanston Hospital in Evanston, said her brother, Keith Beasley. The cause was sepsis from contracting pneumonia after undergoing an operation to insert a mechanical heart pump, he said. David had suffered from a congenital heart defect and progressive heart disease, he said.
Born Marjorie Beasley in Detroit, David attended Monteith College, an experimental college established by Wayne State University in Detroit. She received a bachelor’s degree in 1969 from Wayne State, and while at the university worked on the school paper, The SouthEnd. David started out as a copy editor at the Detroit Free Press, and then edited sections devoted to women, homes and gardening.
In 1972, David became assistant features editor at the Charlotte Observer, then joined the Tribune in 1976 as a copy editor on the features desk. She eventually worked on the Friday section as an assistant editor in charge of the know-how, audio-video and photography pages. A photography enthusiast, she also occasionally wrote articles about photography.
In 1990, the Tribune’s associate editor at the time, Colleen “Koky” Dishon, began devising the concept of a new section on Sundays titled “WOMANEWS,” conceived as a more newsy version of the TempoWoman section.
“The section’s name was printed in capital letters to emphasize that women were making news,” David wrote in a reflection in the Tribune in 2005. “WOMANEWS itself became news as pundits weighed in on the merits of a news section for women. … Controversy meant liveliness and dialogue, and the section was … a conversation with readers.”
Former Tribune Sunday magazine senior features editor Brenda Butler lauded David’s “tenacity for getting the job done.”
“Marjorie was really good at research and at pulling together the studies on which a section like that would be based, in terms of understanding the needs of women, what was lacking, what they weren’t getting in newspapers or magazines at that time,” Butler said.
“She could get the vision and run with that. Koky was the brains behind it, but Marjorie was the one who executed it, and that was a thick section, so she had to build that section every week, and she got some … national writers to contribute. It was a big deal.”
An avid gardener, David later became assistant editor of the Tribune’s Home & Garden section.
“I remember her as a great gardener,” said former Tribune garden writer Beth Botts said. “She was very detail-oriented and was one of those people at a newspaper who you don’t see their bylines, but they make the thing happen every day.”
“When Marjorie and I worked together over many years in the Tribune’s then-Home & Garden section, she not only enriched our pages with her great editing but also graced those of us who worked alongside her with her bright spirit and enthusiasm,” said former Tribune Home & Garden editor Elaine Matsushita.
While working for the Tribune, David earned a master’s degree in fine arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. After retiring in 2008, David, an avid birder, volunteered at the Field Museum of Natural History, and helped to prepare its avian collection from 2016 until 2020.
“She enjoyed traveling, whether her itinerary included Europe’s sights or polar bears in Canada,” said Margaret Carroll, a former Tribune magazine assistant editor. “Defying ongoing health issues, Marjorie lived with a fierce determination to enjoy each day to the fullest.”
In 2020, David moved from the Near South Side Dearborn Park area to the Westminster Place retirement community in Evanston.
A marriage to Greg David ended in divorce. In addition to her brother, David is survived by another brother, Bryan.
David’s family is planning a memorial service next spring.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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