Staff/DMN
Lori Stahl, a longtime reporter for The Dallas Morning News who also worked for The Washington Post and other news outlets before going on to teach North Texas journalism students, died late last month after battling multiple illnesses, according to relatives and an online obituary. She was 67.
Family members of Stahl, who died on April 30, said she worked to bring positive change to those who knew her and those who didn’t.
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“She lived and breathed wanting to make a positive difference in this world and saw things in a different way from how I or many others may observe,” her daughter Sara Stahl said in an email Thursday.
A native North Texan
Stahl grew up in Dallas and graduated from Skyline High School in 1977, according to her obituary. Following that, she traveled west and went to Pitzer College in California. Later, she obtained a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and landed a job at The News in 1986, working on the paper’s City Desk, according to her resume provided to The News by her daughter. She worked at The News from 1986 to 2000 and then again from 2007 to 2011. She also worked at The Post between 2011 and 2013.
Related: Lori Stahl online tribute
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Sara said her mother taught her to be fearless and ask questions. She said growing up she was a shy person, but she observed how her mother carried herself in various spaces by asking questions, and that gave her courage.
“Questions and questioning felt like such a safe space for me because of my mom,” she said.
Stahl told her daughter that journalism gave her purpose in spaces where she otherwise would have felt less comfortable. She had a purpose to ask questions and learn the story, Sara said. Her mother taught her to be persistent and take up the space in the room.
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She traveled alone to Russia and adopted her daughter in 1997, the obituary said.
Stahl chronicled her journey of adopting her daughter in a story published by The News on March 22, 1998. Sara provided her version of the story, through art and words, in an interactive article published by The News 16 years later in 2014.
Michael Merschel, a former colleague of Stahl, said the details of her original adoption story stuck with him for decades.
“I’ve read a lot of adoption stories, and that one was one of the most riveting I ever came across,” he said. “It was a remarkable story.”
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Gayle Reaves, a former reporter at The News who worked alongside Stahl, described her as “an excellent reporter.”
“She had great, great sources, and she knew … how to get into the nuances of the story,” Reaves said.
Reaves said Stahl was deeply passionate about social justice and those who are less fortunate. She cared about people and just wanted to help them in any way she could. Stahl also had a great depth of knowledge.
Scott McCartney, a former news columnist at The Wall Street Journal, said he knew Stahl for close to five decades. Karen Blumenthal, his late wife and former Dallas Morning News journalist, and Stahl were friends since pre-school, which forged the pathway for their long-standing family friendship, according to McCartney.
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He described Stahl as a courageous reporter and person who tackled difficult topics with nuance and ease. He described her writing as honest and authentic.
“Her writing always was clear and concise,” he said. “She really had the ability to hit the nail on the head and tell you exactly what you needed to know.”
Echoing Reaves, he said Stahl was passionate about civil rights and justice which led her to hold institutions accountable through her work and take on bold beats that were way ahead of her time. An example he shared: She wrote about sexual harassment long before the Me Too social movement started.
“She had a very strong sense of right and wrong,” McCartney said.
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Stahl eventually went on to teach journalism at Southern Methodist University. She served on the Cultural Affairs Commission in Dallas. She also served as the Director of Public Affairs at UT Southwestern Medical Center and worked as a media specialist at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas.
She is survived by her daughter Sara, her sister Cathy Golden and her two nephews, Will and Charlie.