Former journalist and antiques dealer Clara T. Nash (nee Trampe), 71, died peacefully at her Riverside home on Dec. 3, 2016.
Ms. Nash was born in St. Louis on March 28, 1945 to Norbert M. Trampe and Mabel A. Trampe (nee Schneider). She grew up in St. Louis, graduating from Riverview Gardens High School in 1963.
While in high school, she was first violinist in the school orchestra, was a member of the debate team and played on the softball and basketball teams. She was captain of the girls basketball team in her junior and senior years. She also edited the high school newspaper and worked on the school yearbook.
She attended the University of Missouri, studying journalism and graduating with honors in 1967. While in college, she was elected to the Kappa Tau Alpha honors journalism society and was named assistant features editor of the journalism school’s daily newspaper, where she also worked as a reporter. As part of her campus church work, she volunteered at a nearby school for the deaf.
After graduation she took a job as reporter and copyeditor at the Gannett Company’s Today newspaper in Coca, Florida. She moved to Nyack, New York, in 1971, where she served as the Sunday editor for the Rockland Journal-News for five years.
She moved briefly to Chicago in 1977 to work as lifestyle editor for the Chicago Tribune, where she revamped the Sunday women’s section, and moved back to New York in 1978, when she took a job as senior editor for the King Features Syndicate, handling columnists and newspaper syndication of Rolling Stone articles.
In 1978 she moved to the New York Daily News, where she served as features editor. She helped to create and produce a new Sunday section, titled You.
Three years later, she was hired as senior editor of Inside Sports Magazine in New York City. Within one year, she was named managing editor.
She became managing editor of Adweek magazine in 1983. In her seven years at the magazine, she was named national editor and executive editor, presiding over the expansion of the publication.
In 1990, she moved back to the Chicago area, settling in Riverside with her husband James F. Nash Jr., whom she married on March 11, 1978.
In Chicago, she directed the Adweek Midwest office, served as a consultant to Spuyten Duyvil Communications and was director at Augsburg Fortress Publishers.
Upon retiring from journalism, Ms. Nash collected antiques and sold them as a dealer in the Jackson Square Mall in LaGrange.
She was a longtime member of the American University Women and Grace Lutheran Church in Riverside.
She organized and directed a teen church group, which produced two full-length plays plus an ecumenical Good Friday drama presentation, she volunteered in a hospital emergency room and worked as a substitute teacher in Riverside School District 96. She played adult volleyball and made many embroidery pieces.
She was an accomplished party-giver, enjoyed gardening, collecting antiques, interior design and bargain-hunting.
Ms. Nash was preceded in death by her husband of 42 years, James F. Nash Jr. and her parents. Survivors include her brother Charles (Jeanne) Trampe of Mundelein; her niece, Virginia Trampe King of DeKalb.; her stepchildren, Deborah Bertoli (Tullio, Alex, Peter) of Oyster Bay, N.Y. ; James Nash (Ann, Charlie, Katie) of Northboro, Massachusetts; Constance Karsh (Daniel) of San Diego; Patricia Nash (Madeline, Reid) of Wilmington, Delaware; Janet Blottin (Phil, Jessica, Stephen) of Bear, Delaware.; Virginia Nash (Stephen, Milo) of New Haven, Connecticut; many friends in New York and Riverside.
A service will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the American Cancer Society.
