Wendi Winters, 65 of Edgewater, MD, was a member of Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Montclair in the 1990s, the church confirmed.
She joined UU Annapolis Church when she moved to Maryland where she was a "huge presence," Rev Kathleen Rolenz of UU Annapolis said.
Winters was an editor and community reporter for the Capital Gazette, part of the Baltimore Sun Media Group/Tribune Publishing. She wrote weekly columns, hundreds of feature articles and oversaw editing in the paper's local sections.
She had a lengthy experience as a public relations consultant, and as a special events and fashion show producer/director.
Prior to journalism, Winters worked in the fashion industry as a public relations consultant and executive a New York City firm and the boutique firm she founded in the early 1980s, her LinkedIn page says.
Winters changed careers when she moved to Maryland and started as a freelance writer about fashion, arts and community events for countless local papers.
She became a staff writer at the paper in 2013 and then an editor in 2016. Winters was a Girl Scout leader and church youth adviser at her local Universalist Unitarian Church.
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