Randall E. Shew

Randall E. Shew, journalist, community leader and educator, of Longview, Ithaca, died peacefully September 2, 2015 at the age of 86 after bouts with bad backs, bad golf swings, cancer and other ailments. He was born August 14, 1929, in Albany, NY, the only child of Charles E. and Marian C. Shew and lived his early years in the Albany and Syracuse areas. He grew up in Dryden, NY, where he graduated from high school and met the love of his life, Barbara Martin, who survives him. They were married in 1951.

In the sixth grade, Shew told his teacher he wanted to be a newspaperman. He never veered from that goal. His college career began at Syracuse University in 1947, which he felt was too big with the influx of WWII veterans. He transferred to Yankton College in South Dakota, where he played football and basketball. He then went on to Antioch College in Ohio, participating in the college's work/study program at newspapers in Toledo, OH and Fairmont, WV.

After marriage came service in the Air Force during the Korean War. Shew spent all his time as editor of the base newspaper, the Jet Gazette, at Williams AFB, AZ. After the service, he returned to the Ithaca area and after a brief time in the furniture business with his father in Ithaca, he joined the staff of the Ithaca Journal, first as a reporter, then City Editor and later Managing Editor. During this time, Shew was on the original Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency that proposed and created the Ithaca Commons.

In 1969, he left the Journal in the aftermath of serious student unrest at Cornell University, when the university offered Shew the job of Director of the News Bureau, with duties in community relations. He was consecutively, and often simultaneously, editor of the Cornell Chronicle and Cornell Reports and the first full-time Director of Community Relations. In 1977, he also began teaching a course in basic newswriting in the Department of Communication Arts at Cornell, which he continued to do until his retirement in 1986. He always said that was the most rewarding part of his career. Several of his students went on to significant careers in the news business.

After retirement Shew spent three years as organizer and Director of the year-long Ithaca Centennial celebration in 1988, working as a volunteer out of an office in City Hall. He said he worked harder for no money at that job than he had ever worked for money during his professional life.

In retirement, he and Barbara traveled a great deal in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean, and had a winter home for 25 years in Lake Helen, FL, where they also were active in the life of that small community. He loved golf, tennis and bicycling and continued to pursue his interest in crossword puzzles, looking forward each week to the Sunday New York Times crossword, and all sports on TV. He and Barbara also took art classes in DeLand, FL, and surprised themselves at what they could create.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara, their four children: Linda (Robert) Wolf of Glenview, IL; Eileen (Arthur) Deutsch of Hawthorne, NJ; Nancy (John) Bolton of Odessa, NY; and Charlie (Bonnie) of Northampton, MA, ten grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.



Arrangements are through Bangs Funeral Home in Ithaca. A memorial celebration of his life will be held at a future date. Memorial donations may be sent to Hospicare & Palliative Care Services, 172 W. King Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850 or the charity of your choice.