Journalist Linda Stowell dies at 55

Linda Stowell, a veteran news and business executive for The Associated Press who took up distance running in defiance of her cancer diagnosis and wrote poignantly and powerfully about her long battle with the disease, has died. She was 55.

Stowell died Saturday in Philadelphia of complications arising from cancer, said her sister, Sue Bradley.

Stowell's AP career spanned more than a quarter-century and took her from reporter and editor to regional vice president in charge of the AP's newspaper member relationships in the eastern half of the United States. Based in Philadelphia, she did significant work on the news cooperative's services and products, and supervised bureau chiefs across the region.

Stowell was an "effective business representative and passionate ambassador" who mentored dozens of AP employees and cared deeply about journalism, said Tom Curley, AP's president and chief executive, and Sue Cross, senior vice president for business development and partner relations for the Americas, in a note to staff yesterday.

Stowell was chief of bureau in Philadelphia from 1997 to 2003, and before that served as bureau chief for Maryland/Delaware and Virginia. She joined the AP in Hartford, Conn., in 1985 and was promoted to correspondent in Stamford, Conn., a year later, interviewing Paul Newman and covering a building collapse in Bridgeport that killed 28. In 1988, she was appointed news editor in Richmond, Va.

A native of Rochester, Stowell was a graduate of Mount Union College in Ohio and worked for The Repository of Canton, Ohio, and The Arizona Republic in Phoenix before working for the AP.

In the fall of 2008, she wrote about her decision to begin running -- ignoring her oncologist's advice -- after learning she had not one but two forms of the disease, melanoma and thyroid cancer. She worked her way up from 5Ks to 10Ks to half-marathons, training religiously while listening to the "Rocky" theme song, "Gonna Fly Now," on her iPod.

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"I was running to prove that I could, to show that I was not defined by the clusters of renegade cells that were growing within me," she wrote. "It had become what I do, how I fight back, how I shake my fist and press forward despite feeling like an unseen enemy is always following, always chasing."

What emerged was a 2,000-word account that revealed Stowell's trademark spirit and determination.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Stowell's name to Lankenau Medical Center Foundation, Medical Office Building East, Suite 5050, 100 East Lancaster Ave., Wynnewood, PA 19096.