After a two-year struggle with breast cancer, Leah Siegel of Dallas, Texas -- and daughter of former Georgetown resident Myra MacPherson -- died at the age of 43 at Baylor Hospital Monday the 26th.
The three-time Emmy award winning Dallas bureau producer for ESPN, which aired a tribute, was diagnosed with stage 4 lobular carcinoma in August of 2008 shortly after the birth of her third child, Oliver.
Siegel was one of the first women to become a full time field producer for ESPN, covering major events throughout the country. She was known for strong news judgment and a strong sense of story-telling, a trait no doubt inherited from her late father, Mo Siegel, and her mother, Myra MacPherson, both prominent Washington journalists.
Siegel was a creature of the Washington sports scene when her father and godfather, Shirley Povich, followed the Redskins, the team she still defended while living and working among the Dallas Cowboys. Duke Zeibert’s and the Palm were her restaurants, the Redskins press box her Sunday afternoon hangout when she became a teenager who passed out stats to the reporters.
She began her career at WRC-TV in Washington, DC. Then moved to Charlotte where she covered sports for NBC-TV. In 1993 she married New York Times sports reporter Joe Drape. In 1996 they moved to Dallas where Siegel began her career with ESPN. Following a divorce, she married Eric Loehr, executive vice president of business development for Landmark Clearing, Inc. The couple had three children, Teagan 5, Wyatt 3 and Oliver 23 months.
“The first thing I remember about meeting Leah when she worked at ESPN and I at CNN-SI is that she always expected to hug everybody she knew from competing networks when she encountered them at a sporting event. That was uncommon to me coming from a newspaper background,” said Dallas based ESPN NFL reporter Ed Werder, who worked regularly with Leah. “I figured it must be a TV thing; it wasn't. It was a Leah thing. Leah brought a sense of journalism, a command of the language, a bit of witty sarcasm and her fun-loving nature to every work assignment we shared."
Willie Weinbaum, one of ESPN's bureau producers in New York said, “I thought that how she handled the last two years, enlightening and entertaining us - - making us laugh and cry - - is an incredible and unending legacy. She has given us a daily lesson on living and loving, character and courage, in the face of unimaginable challenges to the mind and body."
Siegel attended the Maret School, was graduated from the University of Maryland and spent a year studying at the International University in Aix-en-Provence, France.
She is survived by her husband and three children, her mother, Myra MacPherson, and brother, Michael Siegel.
In lieu of flowers, if you wish to contribute to Leah’s family, you may send checks to: Leah Fund c/o Barbara Hoffmann American National Bank 1201 Cross Timbers Rd Flower Mound, TX 75028 or donate in her name to a charity of your choice. To follow her story you can find her blog here at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/leahsiegeldallas .
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