Ray L. Enderle

Ray L. Enderle In a varied career that spanned four decades, Ray L. Enderle excelled as a public relations professional, newspaper reporter, congressional press relations director, journalism foundation board member, Navy journalist and seminarian. Enderle, 78, died of prostate cancer in the presence of his family March 16, 2010, at Hospice of the Comforter in Altamonte Springs, Fla. Mr. Enderle was a resident of Winter Park, Fla. Over the years, he lived and worked in Washington, D.C.; Alexandria, Va.; St. Davids and Philadelphia, Pa.; Haddonfield, N.J.; Dallas, Tex.; San Francisco, Calif., and New Bedford, Mass. Born June 26, 1931, in San Antonio, Texas, Enderle left home at the age of 14 for the minor seminary of the Roman Catholic Redemptorist priestly order in Kirkwood, Mo. After six years there, he spent a year in the novitiate in De Soto, Mo., followed by three years at the Redemptorist Fathers' Immaculate Conception Seminary in Oconomowoc, Wis. He left the order before ordination as a priest and was drafted into the military in 1956. He chose the Navy and served as a journalist at the Naval Air Test Center in Patuxent River, Md., and on the USS Lake Champlain, an aircraft carrier, as the ship's newspaper editor. After his discharge in 1958, Enderle attended the Marquette University College of Journalism in Milwaukee for one year, enough to compile the credits for his degree. After graduation that year, he joined the staff of the New Bedford (Mass.) Standard-Times as a reporter. At the Standard-Times, he met the managing editor's secretary, Denise Cormier. They were married on Aug. 13, 1960, and departed soon afterward for the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., where Enderle earned a master's degree in journalism. In 1961, he joined The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau as a reporter. In November of 1962, Enderle accepted a reporting position at the Plain Dealer in Cleveland. A strike at the newspaper prevented him from starting work there, and he took a reporting job at the Philadelphia Bulletin. Enderle worked there as a reporter, rewrite man, desk editor and photo editor for three years. Assignments included a reporting trip to Israel, from which he wrote spot stories and a series. A growing family prompted a move to Sun Oil Co. in Philadelphia, where he started as the press relations manager. He worked for Sun, later renamed Sunoco, Inc., for 23 years in public relations in Philadelphia and Dallas, rising to the position of Director of Corporate Communications. While at Sun, Enderle taught public relations and writing courses at Villanova University. He also served as a member of the board of directors of the National Press Foundation in Washington, D.C., where he developed a program to educate more than 100 journalism deans and professors from all over the country about economics and business journalism. He persuaded Sun to fund and staff the four annual conferences, called "the Business Beat," which were conducted from1983 through 1986 at Princeton University, the University of Missouri, the University of California-Berkeley and in Asheville, N. C. The programs prompted journalism schools to develop business and economics reporting courses. After his retirement from Sun in 1989, Enderle moved to Alexandria, Va., and worked for two years as the press relations director for the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He left the committee when the chairman, Rep. Dante Fascell (D-Fla.) decided against running for re-election in 1992. Enderle is the author of a memoir, "The Mothballs of Memory." He moved to Winter Park in 1995. Besides his wife, he is survived by three sons, Daniel (Melanie) of Seattle, Wash., and Guy (Rita) and Damien (Lisa) of Arlington, Va.; granddaughters Malia London, Giovanna Magdalene and Peyton Daisy Enderle. Also surviving are brothers H.W.L. (Betty), Findlay, Ohio; Louis E. (Jean), Kokomo, Ind.; Rev. Gilbert A., Rome, Italy; Alan G (Sally), Kalamazoo, Mich.; a sister, Mary E. Hockstein (Eric), Mount Laurel, N.J., and several nephews and a niece. In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to Hospice of the Comforter, Altamonte Springs, Fl., 480 W. Central Pkwy., Altamonte Springs, Fl. 32714, or to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America., Inc., 355 Lexington Ave. 15th floor, New York, NY 10017. A funeral mass will be held on Friday, March 19, 2010, at 9 a.m., at Saint Margaret Mary Catholic Chapel, Park Ave., Winter Park, Fla. A memorial mass will be held in the Washington, DC area next week (date, time and location to be determined).

Ray L. Enderle

June 26, 1931 - March 16, 2010