Former Free Press restaurant critic Sylvia Rector and photographer Mary Schroeder are to be inducted this April into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.
Both trailblazers, the two committed decades of service to Free Press readers. They're to be among seven inductees at a ceremony April 14 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center at Michigan State University.
Schroeder started with the Free Press in 1979 after graduating from Ohio University and, among many accomplishments, took the iconic photo capturing an ebullient Kirk Gibson leaping in the air after a homerun for the Detroit Tigers in their victorious Game 5 of the 1984 World Series.
She was a pioneer in the male-dominated world of sports photography. In 1985, she was a plaintiff in a lawsuit fighting for equal access by male and female reporters and photographers to the Detroit Lions locker room. The Free Press and Lions settled the case out of court with the Lions agreeing to "at all times and all places provide the same access to players, coaches and facilities to all accredited media representatives without regard to sex."
Schroeder spent recent years behind a desk as a photo editor, patiently coaching young photographers and reporters about photography, and Detroit and Free Press history. She retired earlier this year.
Rector's brand of restaurant criticism was honest, fair and consistent. Her pieces were a delight to consume. She came of age at a time when only about 12 percent of women were receiving college degrees, when mainstream newsrooms did not reflect the beautiful diversity within our communities, gender or otherwise.
After graduating from the University of Tennessee in 1972, she began her career as a reporter for the Associated Press and then worked as an editor at the Dallas Times Herald and Minneapolis Star Tribune before joining the Free Press in 1992 as assistant features editor. Rector became a food writer for the Free Press in 1997 and was promoted to restaurant critic in 1999.
An excerpt from an essay submitted with her Hall of Fame nominating package put it this way: "Sylvia was the preeminent restaurant critic in Michigan and evolved from print-only and dining anonymously to making TV and other public appearances. She regularly broke news. Readers saved and savored her stories, including her lists for best new restaurants, best pizzas and best sandwiches."
During her 17 years as restaurant critic, Rector's job was to chronicle metro Detroit’s vibrant dining scene. She certainly wrote about the details of food with a graceful pen, discerning palate and infectious enthusiasm. But what she most enjoyed was sharing the lives and stories of Michigan’s best chefs and restaurateurs and helping readers understand their skills and dedication and that food was a window into culture and our shared humanity.
“Most are driven by a need to feed, please and take care of others,” she wrote in 2015 of the successful chefs and owners she admired. “They are leaders, teachers and team-builders. They set high standards, work incredibly hard and expect others to do the same.”
Many would say the same about her.
Rector retired in December 2015 and died in December 2016 at age 66.
Rector and Schroeder are to be inducted into the hall of fame along with journalists from other news organizations including public affairs and investigative journalist Kathy Barks Hoffman, editor and publisher Peter Brown, automotive and business reporter Mary Conway, reporter and columnist John Schneider and city beat reporter and mentor Vickie Thomas.
"The Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame was established to recognize those who have advanced the legacy of a free and responsible press and had a positive impact on journalism in Michigan. Induction memorializes extraordinary and clearly outstanding careers," according to a news release.
The MSU School of Journalism has been the home for the hall of fame since 1985, reprising the Michigan Newspaper Hall of Fame, which had been founded in 1952 and became dormant in 1968, according to a news release.
For more information, including reservations for the banquet, visit: https://mijournalismhalloffame.org
Contact Robert Allen on Twitter @rallenMI or rallen@freepress.com.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/03/10/michigan-journalism-hall-of-fame/3027909002/ 2019-03-10 11:02:00Z
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