James
Sheeler, a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper reporter and journalism
professor at Case Western Reserve University, died on Sept. 17 at his
Chagrin Falls home. Jim was 53.
He
leaves a legacy of sensitive, penetrating reporting and writing. And he
leaves a legion of journalism colleagues, students and fans who mourned
his passing.
“I
always imagined that giants were, well, gigantic,” novelist, journalist
and Case professor Thrity Umrigar wrote on Facebook. “Deep, loud
voices, heavy footprints, the earth thundering when they walked. My
friend and colleague James Sheeler was a different kind of giant. He was
slight of build and boyishly handsome. A lock of hair always fell onto
his forehead. His voice contained a slight tremor and his hands
sometimes shook. He walked lightly upon this earth. He could slip into a
crowded room unnoticed. He vibrated with a low, quiet energy at all
times. But Jim had a superpower: Niceness. He was quite simply the
nicest guy in the world. You could maybe define that superpower in other
ways. You could call it kindness. You could call it humanity. You could
call it a bottomless desire to help others.”
In 2006, Jim won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for
“Final Salute,” the story he wrote for the Rocky Mountain News, where
he worked from 2004 to the Rocky’s closing in 2009. Jim spent a year
with a Marine major whose job was to help and comfort the families of
comrades killed in Iraq.
Those
works were the culmination of a career-long fascination with telling
the untold stories of otherwise unknown people through obituaries – too
often a task once used as punishment or training in newsrooms and now in
too many newsrooms a lost art.
The Washington Post wrote
in a tribute after his death: “For Mr. Sheeler, the assignment was far
from a chore. As he leafed through death notices faxed by local funeral
homes, typing out obituaries for the Boulder Planet in Colorado, certain
details would catch his eye. “There was one in particular that listed
the woman’s occupation: florist and butcher,” he said.
“I loved that, and I thought: ‘I wish I would have known her. I wish I
could have written about her.’ And then I realized I still could.”
“Over
the next few years, Mr. Sheeler wrote evocative, richly detailed obits
of farmers, ranchers, magicians, restaurateurs — preferably anyone whose
name had never appeared in print. Combining a lean, understated prose
style with an insistence on patient, in-person reporting, he helped
shake up the traditional obituary form and established himself as one of
the country’s leading chroniclers of ordinary people.”
Jim also had close ties to the Press Club
of Cleveland. He was a member and supporter. Past President Thom
Fladung filled in on his Case class one semester when Jim was on
sabbatical. Current President Denise Polverine also stepped in to teach
Jim’s class – and now has been asked to do so again.
In
2010, Jim joined Case as the Shirley Wormser Professor of Journalism
and Media Writing. He inspired students with his journalism marching
orders: “Tell me a story.”
CWRU’s The Daily captured
some of those students’ deep affection and appreciation: “I can
confidently say I wouldn’t be a journalist if it wasn’t for Jim
Sheeler,” wrote 2016 CWRU graduate Anne Nickoloff, now a reporter at cleveland.com. “…I was full of self-doubt – but Jim’s enthusiasm and encouragement helped me believe in myself.”
Jim is survived by his wife, Annick, and their son, James. At this writing a cause of death has not been determined.
Even
on his Twitter account, Jim showed his spare, impactful writing style –
and provided a lesson for all journalists: “Still a reporter,” he wrote
in his description. “Still learning.”