Lowell A. Toenniessen, retired longtime Inquirer reporter and editor, has died at 89

Lowell A. Toenniessen, 89, of Drexel Hill, longtime staff writer, assistant sports editor, and assistant news editor at The Inquirer, died Friday, July 7, of pneumonia and pulmonary fibrosis at his home.

Affable as a colleague, versatile as a reporter, and meticulous and productive as an editor, Mr. Toenniessen joined The Inquirer in 1964 as a general assignment sportswriter. He became assistant sports editor in 1976 and worked as an assistant news editor from the early 1980s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

He covered skiing, horse racing, college basketball, and other local events as a reporter in the 1960s and ‘70s. Later, he served as night sports editor and sports page designer before joining a group of lead editors in 1983 when The Inquirer debuted its new suburban Neighbors sections.

He shared a 1977 award for best sports section design from the Associated Press Sports Editors organization and eventually became The Inquirer’s go-to expert on institutional knowledge about the newspaper and Philadelphia region. “He never wanted accolades,” said his son, Mat. “He flew under the radar.”

In an online tribute, Gene Foreman, retired managing editor at The Inquirer, said: “Lowell was a steady, reliable, wholesome presence in The Inquirer’s lineup of editors who actually produced the daily editions. I salute him as a talented colleague and friend.”

Other former colleagues praised Mr. Toenniessen’s integrity and work ethic in Facebook posts and called him “patient, understanding, and wise beyond measure.” They said he was an invaluable mentor to younger writers and editors, and that “it was a badge of honor if you got through Lowell’s edit with few questions.”

“I shook my head sometimes,” former colleague Reid Tuvim said of Mr. Toenniessen’s attention to even the smallest details. “But at root, it was out of appreciation for his professionalism.”

After short stints at the Saratogian in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and Daily Local News in West Chester, Mr. Toenniessen worked as a sportswriter and editor in the early 1960s at the Binghamton Press in New York. He became sports editor at the local rival Sun-Bulletin in 1962.

John W. Fox, Mr. Toenniessen’s editor at the Press, wrote a column in 1980 about the time years earlier that Mr. Toenniessen watched on TV as a powerhouse local college basketball team lost in a dramatic upset. Fox, never expecting such an occurrence, had not assigned a reporter to cover that game.

But Mr. Toenniessen, realizing the enormity of the event, raced from his home in Johnson City to the arena in Binghamton, interviewed players and coaches, and produced a bylined story for page one. The paper’s readers, Fox said, never knew of Mr. Toenniessen’s hustle that day and “the tourniquet that Toenniessen had been so loyal as to apply to his loving editor.”

Mr. Toenniessen may have been soft-spoken as an editor, but he wasn’t shy about adding drama to some of his own stories. He opened a 1960 article in the Press about a high school football game with: “You could describe it as murder, mayhem, or massacre, that 50-6 whipping Elmira Southside administered to Central yesterday afternoon.”

Lowell Albert Toenniessen was born May 24, 1934, in Wilson, N.Y. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Syracuse University in 1955 and served as sports editor of the school newspaper when he was a senior.

He joined the Air Force after college, served in the special intelligence unit, and was a captain later in the Air Force Reserve. He met Joan Connor when they were students at Syracuse, and they married in 1957.

He and his wife had daughters Linda, Katie, and JoAnna, and son Mat, and lived in Binghamton, Ardmore, and Drexel Hill. His wife died in 2022.

A lifelong sports fan, Mr. Toenniessen followed the Villanova and Syracuse men’s basketball teams, and taught his daughter JoAnna how to keep score at Phillies games. He also never failed to complete his college basketball tournament brackets every March.

He took his family on summer vacations to Maine, to Fourth of July celebrations in Center City, and made special fruit salads without melons for his son at Sunday dinners. “He extended genuine kindness to every person and every creature,” said his daughter Katie. “He was a true gentleman.”

His daughter Linda said: “He would do anything for anybody, and he never made you feel small.” His daughter JoAnna said: “My dad was the gentle giant of my life.”

In addition to his children, Mr. Toenniessen is survived by 11 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.

Visitation with family is 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9, at Stretch Funeral Home, 236 E. Eagle Rd., Havertown, Pa. 19083, and 9:30 to 10:20 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, at St. Bernadette of Lourdes Catholic Church, 1035 Turner Ave., Drexel Hill, Pa. 19026. A service is to follow Thursday at 10:30.

Donations in his name may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, Box 758516, Topeka, Kan. 66675.