BEAUFAIT, HOWARD G. (15 Oct. 1904-3 Nov. 1976) was the "big story" reporter of the CLEVELAND NEWS during its last quarter-century. He was born in Detroit, Mich., son of Louis and Dorothy (Johnson) Beaufait. He was educated in New York and England, and broke into journalism as editor of a small Maine weekly. When his English stepfather, an airplane pilot named Rex Uden, came to work in Cleveland, Beaufait followed and joined the staff of the News in 1928. During the 1930s he became one of the country's first aviation writers and later turned out a daily column, "Here Today." After serving as city editor of the News during WORLD WAR II, he covered such national stories as the McCarthy hearings and the executions of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. His coverage of the KOREAN WAR in 1953 earned him an award from the CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER GUILD, while the National Headliners Club honored him for a beat on the starvation deaths of American prisoners of war. Always noted as a crime specialist, Beaufait was the first reporter on the scene of the SHEPPARD MURDER CASE. He served as president of the Cleveland Newspaper Guild in 1954. Following a 1956 divorce from his first wife, the former Hazel J. Krauss whom he married on 8 Dec. 1928, Beaufait married Doris O'Donnell, a reporter for the News and the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, on 14 Sept. 1957. When the News ceased publication in 1960, he became assistant executive secretary of the Cleveland Area Heart Society. Later he returned to journalism with jobs on the Lake County News-Herald and the Tribune-Review of Greensburg, Pa. He died near his home in Ligonier, Pa., survived by 3 children: Howard, Jr., Elaine Owen, and Janis Corso.
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