Bess R. Katz, 91, partner in reporting service

During the three national political conventions at the old Convention Hall in West Philadelphia in 1948, Bess and Martin Katz were a team. For each political party, he recorded the speeches, in shorthand, and she transcribed his work.

Their reputations were so good, their son, Victor, said, "that many organizations were willing to pay them to travel outside of Philadelphia . . . rather than hiring someone locally."

On Feb. 21, Bess Rosenfeld Katz, 91, a partner in her family's reporting firm, died at the nursing facility at the Watermark at Logan Square in Center City of complications from a stroke. She had lived there for three years.

Mrs. Katz's husband opened Atlas Reporting Service in Center City shortly after returning from his Army duties in Panama during World War II.

"My father was a stenotype reporter," writing shorthand into a device similar to ones that can be seen in courts today, their son said, "and my mom transcribed the stenotype notes using a typewriter."

Because both had studied medical terminology, Victor Katz said, his parents were "frequently called to work at medical conventions," including the annual meetings of the American Osteopathic Society.

"There were even a few medical organizations that were willing to pay them to travel internationally to report on a convention. This was, obviously, in the days before people wrote up their speeches on a computer."

The Katzes worked together at Atlas until they sold the business in 1980.

Born in Philadelphia, Mrs. Katz graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls in 1933, attended Philadelphia Normal School, and worked as a substitute teacher in city public schools.

They lived in Mount Airy from 1965 to 2002, when they moved to Center City. In 2005, they moved to Logan Square.

In 1954, Mrs. Katz was a founder of the Sholom Aleichem Club in Philadelphia, where she contributed to "Haggadah for a Secular Celebration of Pesach," which the club published in 1975. It had sold 20,000 copies by the end of last year.

The club's Web site states that the publication, written in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish, contains "elements of the Passover story . . . consistent with secular Jewish philosophy with an emphasis on people's role in building a better world."

Mrs. Katz was also secretary for the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations.

Besides her husband and her son, Mrs. Katz is survived by a daughter, Elaine Sohn; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A memorial took place Feb. 23 at the Radisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia.