Michael J. Koss, former News circulation aide dies at 59

MIKE KOSS knew how to take care of catbirds.

When he and his then wife, Christine Hennessy, moved into their house in Cape May Point, the previous owner wept when she thought that her beloved catbirds would no longer be cared for.

She begged Mike to feed them, which was no simple matter. He found he had to bite raisins in half and place them on the deck rail for the fussy birds.

Mike reached the point that he insisted that all visitors help in the feeding.

But caring for catbirds was only one of Mike's talents. The onetime circulation manager for the Daily News had been a highly respected teacher, a mentor to troubled youth, a connoisseur of the theater and the arts, and played tennis and golf.

Michael John Koss died June 21 of cancer at age 59. He lived in Phoenix, Ariz., but had lived most of his life in Philadelphia.

Mike had a lifelong interest in helping young people, and the Daily News job was just right for him. He started at the paper in 1977, and one of his responsibilities was recruiting and training youngsters for home delivery and collection.

He retired in 2001, and he and his third wife, the former Donna Ford, moved to Phoenix in 2001.

Madeline Magee, retired after 17 years in telecommunications for the Daily News and Inquirer, said Mike was "a great guy with a fine outlook on life."

"He was very kind and had a great sense of humor. He loved word play and malapropisms."

Mike referred to Madeline as "St. Madeline," because it was she who introduced Donna, her cousin, to him. They were married in 1999. He cherished his time with her, and when anyone called for her, he would say, "Let me get la bella Donna."

He was born in Philadelphia to Edward and Anna Koss. He attended La Salle High School and La Salle College. He started out majoring in theology, switched to pre-med and wound up with English.

While in college, Mike volunteered with St. Gabriel's Hall, a school for delinquent youth, and afterward worked at St. Francis Vocational School in 1969, and Youth Services Inc. until 1973.

He mentored court-adjudicated delinquent boys with the goal of keeping them out of the juvenile-justice system.

He also developed a tennis program with the National Junior Tennis League at Finnigan Playground, teaching young people to love tennis as much as he did.

He married Theresa Gildea in 1969.

Mike began teaching fourth and fifth grades at Frankford Friends School. A mother of one of his students wrote to him:

"Sometimes a person comes into another individual's life and adds a special dimension to it. I think you have been such a person for David."

But in 1977, he left teaching and joined the Daily News.

Mike became an avid bird-watcher when he and Christine, whom he married in 1980, bought the Cape May Point house in 1993. The house backed up to Lily Lake, where Mike enjoyed hearing the thunder of swans as they lifted off the water.

He also pursued his love for tennis at the Cape May Tennis Club.

Mike and Donna played golf in Scotland and in Pebble Beach, Calif., toured London, Paris and Germany, and took a three-day hike into the Grand Canyon.

He was famous among friends for his remarkable memory. A man who could remember the first time he tasted French onion soup, and what happened on every hole in a long-ago golf match is a man to be reckoned with.

A lifelong liberal Democrat, he was active in Democratic politics in Phoenix for a time.

His wife is his only immediate survivor. He was predeceased by his older brother, Thomas, a career Air Force officer and fighter pilot in the Vietnam War.

Services: Memorial service 11 a.m. July 26 at the LuLu Temple Country Club, Limekiln Pike, North Hills. *