Frank Fay, award-winning reporter and columnist for The Hour, died May 9 at age 89 after a long battle with cancer. Fay applied for a reporter position at The Norwalk Hour in 1961. He retired in spring of 2016.
Fay attended Yale University, before serving in the U.S. Army, after which he attended Columbia University. A fine tenor, he sang in the glee clubs at both universities.
In 1961, Frank applied for a position at The Norwalk Hour, as it was then called. “He told them he could type. He couldn’t.”
“But he sure could write and developed into a solid and accurate reporter. Whether out in the field or working the phones in the newsroom, he was a dogged and thorough reporter and a probing interviewer. With facts and quotes in his notepad, Frank attacked the keyboard, manual typewriters in the early days, then IBM Selectrics and then computers, tapping out his stories with surprising speed, given he was only using his two index fingers.
“But Frank, using just his two index fingers, became a fast typist and a solid reporter,” [Bill] Dunn said. “Whether out in the field or working the phones in the newsroom, he was a dogged and thorough reporter and a probing interviewer.”
Over his long career, Fay covered nearly every beat, including city hall, police, sports and was the Hour’s education reporter for decades.
