Coffey left lasting impression as global journalist

Chicago journalists and longtime politicians are mourning the passing of Raymond Coffey, who passed away Oct. 3.

The 46-year Chicago journalist had at one time covered all them during his career that started with the United Press Syndicate, before moving to the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Tribune, and ultimately the Chicago Sun-Times, from 1987 to 1999.

Family members said Mr. Coffey passed away in Tucson, Ariz., as the result of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 79.

Most recently, Mr. Coffey had served as an editor and columnist for the Chicago Sun Times, but the award-winning journalist had covered everything from the Vietnam War to Chicago's City Hall, and many of its politicians and public servants.

"He was the truth, whether in reporting, writing his column or in conversation," says Sun-Times colleague Jack Higgins. "He was also funny, and a great storyteller."

Those qualities were evident, when, two years before Mr. Coffey retired, he accepted an offer to appear at Fremd High School's Writer's Week.

A little shy and unsure of what he had to offer, Mr. Coffey was assured by English teacher, Patti O'Brien, that he merely had to share some of his experiences as a working journalist.

O'Brien vividly remembers the first story that Mr. Coffey offered: "When I got off the plane with President Reagan," he began.

"As soon as he said that, he had them," O'Brien says. "They were mesmerized."

Mr. Coffey would go onto tell them about covering the civil rights movement, and about meeting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and James Meredith, before describing how he hid in the Vietnam trenches with the troops.

"The kids were fascinated," O'Brien adds. "There wasn't enough time for all of their questions."

Mr. Coffey himself was the father of seven children, including six daughters and one son. After his first assignment as a foreign correspondent in 1964, his editors realized that the role was difficult for the father of a large family.

When they dispatched him next to Bangkok, he took his family with him.

"The theory was that we'd be able to see more of him," says his daughter, Brigid Zachar of Palatine, "but that really wasn't the case. When he was covering the troops, he wanted to be right there with them."

The family stayed for two years before returning to Chicago briefly. They uprooted again, when Mr. Coffey accepted the position as London Bureau Chief for the Chicago Daily News. The family lived in London for more than seven years.

"It was a great experience and quite an adventure," Zachar adds. "As many adventures as my father had with his work, he had many more, traveling with all of us."

Mr. Coffey is survived by his wife, Holly, daughters Brigid, Erin, Ellen, Clare, Amy and Nancy, and son, Brendan; as well 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will take place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Alphonsus Church, 411 N. Wheeling Road in Prospect Heights.