Former Daily News editor John Oswald dead at 58 after courageous battle with health issues
Former Daily News editor John Oswald, whose impressive storytelling skills were surpassed only by his inspiring will to live, has died after a long battle with several medical issues including diabetes. He was 58.
Even as he learned to walk on prosthetic legs after both of his own were amputated, Oswald maintained the cutting wit for which he was known in several newsrooms, friends and colleagues said.
In recent months, Oswald even attended his high school's 40th class reunion in Freeport , LI.
And when he visited "The Vessel" sculpture at Manhattan's Hudson Yards in July after months of being confined in his Union Square apartment, Oswald triumphantly thrust his arms in the air as though he had just won the city's wheelchair marathon.
"I always knew he was smart," said Ethan Sacks, a reporter who worked with Oswald at The News. "I also learned he was also tenacious. It was inspiring how much he fought through."
Sacks said that fight included losing weight and two years of physical therapy to learn how to use the new legs. Sacks said he was with Oswald the first time his former editor walked a full lap around a neighborhood park.
"He was having a quality of life that he fought to gain back that had been missing for years," Sacks said.
But it was Oswald's talent as an editor that won him fans in newsrooms across the metro area, starting first at The Jersey Journal in Jersey City before moving across the river to the New York Post and The News.
Kirstin Danis, who worked with Oswald at all three newspapers, said Oswald remained close with reporters and editors from each place.
"He really loved the city and had incredible story instincts." Danis said. "He was a lot like the papers and the cities where he worked. He was tough but kind. He could be gruff but intimately lovable. I think a lot of people would have followed him through fire."
Colleagues said Oswald had a unique ability to make stories — and the reporters who wrote them — better.
"He was one of the sharpest editors to ever work the trade," Sacks said. "He knew how to coax the best out of reporters."
Oswald began working his magic as a student at Columbia University, where he was the managing editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator, the campus newspaper.
"I remember when Ozzy arrived at The Jersey Journal fresh from the Columbia Daily Spectator," former Jersey Journal editor Steve Newhouse said in a Facebook post. "He was mature beyond his years, as if he had lived a previous life as a journalist. His professionalism as a reporter and editor was matched by his thoughtfulness and kindness as a person."
A viewing for Oswald will be held on Oct. 26 from 1-4 p.m. at Hungerford and Clark Funeral Home in Freeport.
There are also plans in the works for a memorial service in New York City.
"John had a tremendous number of friends," Danis said. "He was still close to people in college. It's a tremendous loss. I worked with John at different papers, and at each place, I admired him more and more."
