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GREENWICH, Conn. - John L. McHale, a 25-year Greenwich resident and longtime journalist, died Feb. 23 after a battle with melanoma. He was 87.
McHale was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1924 and raised there. He was the son of Capt. Leo J. McHale, of the U.S. Army, and Edith Lamb McHale. He served with the U.S. Army Air Corps in New Guinea and the Philippines during World War II and graduated from LaSalle University in Philadelphia in 1949.
He began a 43-year career in journalism and communications management as a copy boy at The Philadelphia Bulletin in 1946. He went on to become a business reporter for Fairchild Publications in Philadelphia, managing editor of the Penns Grove Record, state news editor of The Wilmington Journal-Every Evening and a news editor with The New York World-Telegram & Sun.
From 1956 to 1963 McHale served as an editor at The New York Times and taught headline writing as an associate professor of journalism at Columbia University. In 1963, he joined the United Parcel Service as internal communications manager. In 1972, he earned his masters degree in educational psychology from Columbia University. He retired from UPS in 1989.
McHale was a member of the Connecticut Society of Colonial Wars, the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania and the Jamestowne Society. He was a past member of the Greenwich Country Club, Johns Island Club of Vero Beach, Fla., and the DuPont-Penns Grove Country Club in New Jersey. Additionally, he was a former member of the board of governors of the Scarsdale Golf Club.
McHale regularly taught computer basics to seniors through the nonprofit SeniorNet organization in Greenwich and Vero Beach.
McHale is survived by his wife of 62 years, Genevieve M. Gorman; sons Bartholomew and Kent, of Greenwich; daughters Amy McHale Pinchbeck and Holly McHale Biggins; sister Edith McHale Ricci; and 11 grandchildren.
Mass was celebrated at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Greenwich, with burial at Putnam Cemetery. Fred Knapp Funeral Home in Greenwich handled the arrangements.
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