Edith Sayre Auslander, a Tucson native who rose from the local newsroom to the upper echelon of the state’s university system while championing minorities and women in higher education and journalism, died Wednesday of natural causes. She was 83.
As a journalist with the Arizona Daily Star and later a University of Arizona assistant professor of journalism, Auslander mentored numerous journalists at the start and during their careers. She was instrumental in developing national journalism training programs for minorities and was a founding member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in the early 1980s.
And in her positions on the Arizona Board of Regents and as UA vice president and senior associate to the president, she led the establishment of the Commission on the Status of Women in 1991 and was involved in the creation of the Women’s Plaza of Honor on the UA campus which was dedicated in 2005.
Auslander
“Her biggest impact right now, when she was president of the Board of Regents, was the creation of the Commission on Women,” said her husband, Steve Auslander, a former editor and local publisher with the Arizona Daily Star. “That was her foremost impact, and the building of the women’s plaza was pretty extraordinary.”
He attributed much of her success and achievements to being “adroit at moving around a bunch of male egos.”
In her career, Auslander garnered numerous awards and recognition for her service and dedication to her community, including Tucson Woman of the Year in 1986 and the Ray Davies Lifetime Humanitarian Achievement Award in 2011. Hispanic Business Magazine named her as one of 100 influential Hispanics. She was a member of the Tucson Junior League.
Edith and husband, Steve Auslander
“Edie was very talented and a trailblazer in many fields, but I knew her best as a fellow journalist. She was an outstanding reporter, editor, and newspaper executive at a time when female journalists were few and far between — and in an era when female Hispanic journalists were even more uncommon,” wrote Frank Sotomayor, referring to Auslander by her nickname.
“She like me and others, saw the scarcity of people of color in journalism who could tell our stories with greater knowledge and sensitivity,” said the Tucson native and former Los Angeles Times journalist.
She was inducted into the Tucson High Badger Hall of Fame, the UA Journalism Hall of Fame, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Hall of Fame. And in a unique Tucson honor, Los Descendientes del Presidio de Tucson named Auslander a Doña, a title of respect and distinction.
Edith Auslander was born at the Stork Nest in downtown Tucson to William Frank Sayre and Artemisa Castelan Sayre, on Sept. 3, 1939. Her father, in 1942, was the first Mexican American engineer for Southern Pacific railroad, where he encountered discrimination and violence.
“He used to come home beat up,” Auslander recounted in a column by Arizona Daily Star writer Bonnie Henry in 2007.
Edith with her children Anne Pagel, far left, Gene Armstrong, second from left, Edie and M.E. Armstrong, far right.
Auslander graduated from Tucson High School in 1957 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the UA and in 1975 completed her M.A. degree in journalism. She began her career with Arizona Catholic Lifetime, the publication of the Catholic Diocese of Tucson, first as a reporter, then managing editor. From 1973 to 1981, Auslander worked at the Arizona Daily Star as a features writer, a general assignment reporter, an education reporter, a copy editor, and a section editor at a time when there were few women and even fewer Hispanic women in those roles. She also served as the human relations director at Tucson Newspapers.
In 1977 she joined the UA Journalism Department’s faculty. She served as co-director and director of the Editing Program for Minority Journalists, a national training initiative sponsored by the Institute for Journalism Education in Berkeley, California.
Years before she joined the department, former UA journalism professor Jim Johnson, who worked with Auslander, remembers her as a fellow undergrad and reporter for the UA Wildcat, the student publication.
But it was her efforts as a regent that had a critical impact on the department, Johnson said. “When the department was threatened to be shut down, she worked behind the scenes to keep the department open. Many people didn’t know that,” he said.
In 1984 former Gov. Bruce Babbitt appointed Auslander to serve an eight-year term on the Arizona Board of Regents.
That is how Paul Allvin, former UA associate vice president for communications, met Auslander. He was a cub reporter for the UA Wildcat and reported on the Board of Regents.
“She was always there to sit and listen, and to explain. Always a teacher,” said Allvin, currently a vice president at George Mason University in Virginia. “She helped me be better at my craft. I never forgot that.”
Former UA president Peter Likins appointed Auslander as UA vice president and senior associate to the president, a role she continued under former UA president Richard Shelton. Before her appointment, Auslander served as director of development at the UA Alumni Association. She retired from the UA in 2008.
Former YWCA executive director Janet Marcotte said Auslander was a visionary and passionate about serving the community. Auslander’s interests lay in providing support for women, children, and victims of domestic violence, Marcotte said.
“She was an incredibly strong woman. She had a great desire to make our community into a better place,” said Marcotte. She credited Auslander for guiding her to a 25-year career at the YWCA. “What she helped me see was not always to be right but to be practical and forward moving.”
Auslander is survived by her husband, Steve, son Gene Armstrong, daughters M.E. Armstrong and Anne Pagel (Ray Pagel), all of Tucson; granddaughters Alexis Pagel and Marisa Pagel, both of Laveen, Arizona; stepsons Jason Auslander of New Castle, Colorado, and Matthew Auslander of Amarillo, Texas; sister Mary Sayre Barrett (Bill Barrett) of Fresno, California, brother Federico Castelan Sayre (Desiree Sayre) of Buena Park, Calif., and two nieces and four nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother John Michael Sayre, all of Tucson.
Visitation will be 4-9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 11, at Carrillo’s Tucson Mortuary, 204 S. Stone Ave., with rosary at 7 p.m. Funeral mass will be Saturday, Aug. 12, time to be determined, at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 St. Stone Ave.
Auslander’s care in her final days was provided by Cheryl Seaton, whom the family gives deep gratitude.
Steve Auslander will remember his wife of 46 years as genuinely sincere.
“I’ve seen her at a banquet sit next to a stranger, and by the end they would be the best of friends,” he said. “I saw it happen time and again.
