Joseph I. Gradel, 91, librarian for newspapers

Joseph I. Gradel, 91, a retired Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News librarian, and a founder of the Pennypack Woods housing development in Holmesburg, died at St. John Neumann's Nursing Home in Philadelphia on Thursday.

Mr. Gradel was fondly remembered yesterday as someone who for more than 50 years reliably retrieved information and photographs when stories were being prepared on deadline. He was a librarian for The Inquirer beginning in 1936. He retired in 1993, when he was 76.

"He was the consummate pro," said William K. Marimow, editor of The Inquirer. "He knew The Inquirer's library and the region's history inside and out, and during the time we worked together, he produced answers to the newsroom's requests for information and news clips with speed and courtesy."

"He was a font of knowledge," said Michael Panzer, director of news research for the newspapers, who worked with Mr. Gradel for seven years.

Mr. Gradel was instrumental in establishing the Pennypack Woods Homeowners Association, which took over a tract of 1,000 wartime houses that the U.S. government built for servicemen in 1941.

"There was strong opposition to this at the time," Mr. Grabel's son Martin said. "But my father and a group of men bought it from the government in 1951 and turned it into a cooperative community that is still intact. The people living there don't own their houses, but a share of the community."

Mr. Gradel graduated from North Catholic High School and then served one year in the Army at the end of World War II.

He and Rose, his wife of 68 years, raised 12 children.

Mr. Gradel also enjoyed tennis, basketball, gardening and stamp collecting. He won an Inquirer and Daily News tennis championship in the 1940s.

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Gradel is survived by daughters Carolyn Procopio, Rosemarie McCann, Christine Conti, Regina Oliveros, Nora Root and Suzanne Link; sons Thomas and Michael; 19 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren. Two sons, Joseph and Steven, and one daughter, Kathleen, predeceased him.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Dominic's Church, 8504 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia 19136, to which donations may be made.

Visitation will be after 6 p.m. Monday at the Aldworth Funeral Home, 4117 Decatur St., and from 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Burial will be in the church cemetery.