Edward Frank, 87, Inquirer news editor

Edward Frank, 87, of Berlin, who for 18 years designed memorable front pages as an Inquirer news editor, died of heart failure Friday, March 16, at Virtua Memorial Hospital Hospice in Mount Holly.

"Ed saw the news sharper than anyone else and could get it on a page in ways no one else could imagine," said Pete Boal, an Inquirer news editor who worked with him.

In 1979, when Pope John Paul II said Mass in Logan Square, the Evening Bulletin - The Inquirer's chief competition then - ran a five-story front page as on any other news day.

Mr. Frank, instead, designed an elegant page with just two stories about the pope and two photos, the largest showing Mayor Frank Rizzo kneeling before the pope.

When the Phillies won the World Series in 1980, "Ed needed just one word for the biggest headline we ever ran: 'Champions.' That was the page every fan had to have," Boal said. "Ed really gave the paper a personality and an edge."

In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Frank designed front pages for more than a dozen Inquirer investigative series that won Pulitzer Prizes.

"Eddie was the best news editor of his era," said Gene Roberts, former Inquirer executive editor.

Mr. Frank had the sense of what stories should go on the front page and helped create a distinctive "Inquirer" look, Roberts said.

In 1972, Roberts was a newly appointed Inquirer editor when he hired Mr. Frank away from Today, a paper in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

Roberts had covered space launches at Cape Canaveral for the New York Times in the mid-1960s and filed his stories from the Today newsroom. In February 1967, he had watched Mr. Frank design the front page for the story of the cabin fire aboard Apollo I, which killed all three astronauts on board.

"As Gene realized that night in Cocoa Beach, Ed was an unflappable professional who was at his best handling big news on deadline. His news judgment was impeccable," said Gene Foreman, a retired Inquirer managing editor.

Mr. Frank retired from The Inquirer as an assistant managing editor in December 1989.

A native of Johnson City, N.Y., Mr. Frank served in the Army in the Philippines during World War II and later was stationed in Japan.

After his discharge, he was a reporter for the Binghamton Sun. When he was promoted to news editor at the paper, he trained the managing editor's daughter, Doris Lyon, to cover his beat. They married in 1959.

From 1960 to 1962, Mr. Frank was an assistant news editor at the Syracuse Post and then was a news editor at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle for four years before moving to Florida in 1966.

While at The Inquirer, Mr. Frank regularly played golf with several colleagues.

"In our youthful zest to drive the ball a mile off the tee, we would invariably wind up in the woods," said John Lubell, a former Inquirer editor. "Ed, who was quite a bit older, would take a nice, easy swing off the tee and land the ball right in the middle of the fairway almost every time, earning him the nickname 'Steady Eddie.' "

As an avid stamp collector, Mr. Frank learned about the history of other countries and made friends all over the world, his wife said.

He and his wife enjoyed vacations in Maine and Florida. He was a big fan of the Phillies, she said, and last year attended spring training in Clearwater, Fla.

Besides his wife, Mr. Frank is survived by a son, Stephen; a brother; and a sister.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 21, at Lechner Funeral Home, 24 N. Main St., Medford. Friends may call from 10 a.m. Burial will be in Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Cemetery in Arneytown, N.J.

Donations may be made to the American Lung Association, 3001 Old Gettysburg Rd., Camp Hill, Pa. 17011.