NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (AP) – Nancy Quirk Keefe, an award-winning journalist and longtime columnist for Gannett newspapers, has died. She was 69.

Keefe died Wednesday evening of breast cancer while being taken by ambulance from her Larchmont home to a hospital in New Rochelle, according to The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass. Keefe was a native of Pittsfield.

Keefe spent most of her career as a journalist with Gannett newspapers, starting in 1976 as Sunday coordinator for the former Standard-Star in New Rochelle and ending as a columnist for what is now The Journal News. She also worked for The Berkshire Eagle and the New York World Telegram and Sun, according to The Eagle. She retired in 1998.

In 1983, Keefe was named top columnist by the New York State Associated Press Association among state newspapers with a circulation of more than 125,000.

As editorial page editor for The Journal News, Keefe was known for her honest criticism of politicians, her defense of the disenfranchised and her sense of humor.

Former Gov. Mario Cuomo, who considered Keefe a friend, called her an honest journalist who “was very tough on me.”

Keefe, a Roman Catholic, was also an Eucharistic minister and a lector at the College of New Rochelle, even though she took strong stands against some church policies, including its position against abortion.

Keefe was born Nov. 20, 1934, daughter of John and Ann O’Laughlin Quirk. Her father was an employee at The Eagle and her mother was a copy editor there. When Keefe was 9, she submitted her first story to The Eagle and was paid $1 for it.

In addition to her husband, Keefe is survived by her three children and three grandchildren.

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