Esther VanWagoner Tufty, a Washington Journalist since the days of the New Deal, died today in Alexandria, Va. She was 89 years old.
Mrs. Tufty started the Tufty News Service in 1935, serving two dozen daily newspapers in the Middle West, most of them in her native Michigan. She headed the news service until she suffered a stroke in December. Mrs. Tufty has covered every President since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Over the years, her service has had nearly 300 clients.
She was born July 2, 1896 in Kingston, Mich. After graduating from high school she got her first newspaper job, as assistant society editor for the Pontiac Press. It paid $7.50 a week.
She continued to work while she attended the University of Wisconsin. After graduation she married Harold Tufty; the were later divorced.
Mrs. Tufty ran the news service from an office in the National Press Building, where she was known to fellow journalists as “The Duchess.” She was one of the oldest working journalists in Washington.
Mrs. Tufty is survived by her brother, Murray D. VanWagoner of Birmingham, Mi., a former Governor of the state; two sons, James of Honolulu and Harold Jr. of Washington and six grandchildren.
