Margarett F. McKeel, 88, civic volunteer and wife of former Inquirer and Daily News publisher

Margarett F. McKeel, 88, of Gladwyne, the wife of former Inquirer and Daily News publisher Sam S. McKeel and a force in Philadelphia's volunteer community, died Monday, June 26, of complications from Alzheimer's disease at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

Mrs. McKeel was born and reared in Walstonburg, N.C. Although she did not know him well as a child, her husband also grew up there. The two married in 1952 and had three children.

She graduated from Greensboro (N.C.) College in 1951 with a bachelor's degree in English, and received a master's degree in English from the Peabody School, now part of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Mrs. McKeel worked as a high school teacher in Greensboro and Charlotte, N.C., until the couple's second child was born in 1959. She then retired from teaching and immersed herself in civic work as a volunteer and leader.

She chaired fund-raising efforts, was a cofounder of a nonprofit, and collaborated on charitable public events with her husband as he rose to executive positions with the Akron Beacon Journal, the Inquirer and Daily News, and the Chicago Sun-Times.

In Charlotte, Mrs. McKeel was president of the League of Women Voters, and when the family moved to Akron in 1962, she served on the Ohio board of directors for the league.

When the McKeels relocated to Philadelphia in 1972, she again became active in civic work. She served on the board of the YMCA of Philadelphia and Vicinity, and chaired its onternational committee.

She was a cofounder and president of Philadelphia Hospitality, an organization that welcomes and guides out-of-town groups visiting the area.

"She was a take-charge kind of person," said her husband. "She liked to determine the values and benefits" of any undertaking.

For 17 years ending in the mid-1990s, Mrs. McKeel served on the board of directors of People's Light and Theatre Company. She was a board member of the Settlement Music School and the Juvenile Law Center.

An elder and trustee of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, she chaired the church's building committee during a time of major expansion and construction.

In 1989, Mr. McKeel took early retirement from Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., then publisher of the Inquirer and Daily News. The family moved to Chicago for five years while he led the Sun-Times.

In November 1993, the McKeels accompanied other Sun-Times executives on a trip to Israel, during which they interviewed government, political, academic, and lay leaders in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. They took the trip because they wanted "to know what was happening and why," her husband said.

Although the McKeels enjoyed life in Chicago, they returned to the Philadelphia area in 1995 to be near friends and family on the East Coast. In 2007, they moved to Waverly Heights, a senior community in Gladwyne.

Mrs. McKeel was a voracious reader and enjoyed playing tennis.

As a mother, she was attentive and caring, but firm, son Douglas said. She had clear expectations for what her children should  and should not  do.

One family requirement was that the children work during the summers to earn spending money for college. Mrs. McKeel believed that paying customers should get a high-quality job, and she checked to make sure her children did so.

"Doug chose mowing lawns. … When he came home, she would get in the car and drive over to make sure the job had been done right," McKeel said.

In addition to her son and husband of 65 years, she is survived by children Karen Calby and Stuart; seven grandchildren; a great-granddaughter; and three sisters.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 1, at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010. Interment will be private.

Memorial contributions may be made to the church at the address above.