By Matthew Gambino
PHILADELPHIA – Louis “Lou” Baldwin, a Catholic journalist and a gentleman known by generations of Philadelphia Catholics for his bylines for 35 years, died Oct. 18 in Philadelphia. He was 86.
Baldwin, a native of Philadelphia with an encyclopedic knowledge of the city, was a longtime staff writer for The Catholic Standard & Times, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. His funeral Mass was celebrated Oct. 23 at Saint Christopher Church in Philadelphia.
Born in West Philadelphia, he was orphaned as a boy during the Great Depression and was sent to the former Saint Francis Vocational School in Eddington near Philadelphia in 1947 – which began a connection he would share with Saint Katharine Drexel, the heir to the Drexel family fortune who left a life of privilege to found the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
The saint’s family founded the orphanage, and Baldwin formed a lifelong love for Saint Katharine and her sisters. He was the author of two biographies of her that helped to spread devotion to her ahead of her canonization in 2000.
While living at the orphanage, Baldwin attended Saint Bernard School and Northeast Catholic High School in Philadelphia. After graduating in 1952, he joined the U.S. Army and served as a cryptographer during the Korean War.
When he returned home, Baldwin attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he met Rita Crawford. The two married and raised nine children in their 61 years of marriage.
Baldwin worked as a stockbroker on the Philadelphia exchange and as an accountant and a librarian. He also found part-time work at night selling appliances at Sears.
He became known for a trait that he made a lifelong habit – being a walker.
Following a night shift in South Philadelphia or a meeting of his Knights of Columbus council there, Baldwin would often to walk the 11-mile journey back to his home in Northeast Philadelphia.
When Saint Francis faced closure in 1984, Baldwin sent a reflection on the orphanage and the sisters who founded it to The Catholic Standard & Times.
The paper’s managing editor at the time, Michael Houldin, read the piece and liked it and suggested to the editor that the paper publish it. “Sure, let’s run it,” said then-Msgr. John P. Foley. “Pay him $25.”
That led to Baldwin getting a position as staff writer with the paper in 1986 where he wrote some half-dozen stories a week, at least, until 2004, when he retired from full-time work.
Gambino is director and general manager of CatholicPhilly.com, the news website of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
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