Gordon K. Englehart

Gordon Kerfoot Englehart, retired Indianapolis bureau chief of The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, died Thursday from heart failure and dementia. He was 93.
Born in Brazil, Ind., Englehart was graduated from Indiana University in 1942 with an A.B. degree in Journalism. He served 43 months in the Army in WW II, ending with rank of first lieutenant. A rifle platoon leader in the Ninth Infantry Division in Germany, he was awarded the Combat Infantrymans Badge, two campaign stars, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart.
Englehart was a reporter on The Lima (Ohio) News and Dayton Daily News before joining The Courier-Journal in 1950. He served as a copy editor, reporter, night city editor, assistant city editor, and a year in the C-Js Washington bureau before moving to Indianapolis in 1960.
In that bureau, Englehart covered politics and elections, the Indiana Statehouse, the Legislature, the Governors office, and news of particular interest to Southern Indiana readers. He covered the state conventions of both political parties, and the Indiana delegations to both parties national conventions. He wrote a Sunday political column. For one year, he returned to Louisville as a national correspondent. He retired from The C-J in 1984.
Governors awarded Englehart five Sagamores of the Wabashone each from Welsh, Bowen, Orr and OBannon, and the fifth jointly signed by Welsh, Whitcomb, Bowen and Orr. He was elected to the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 1987.
Other honors: 1968 Indianapolis Press Club award for consistently outstanding reporting and writing; 1978 John Hancock Award for Exellence in business and financial journalism shared with four other C-J staffers); 1984 Hortense Myers Award from Women in Communications for a distinguished career in journalism.
Also upon retirement in 1984: Sens. Lugar and Quayle inserted full-page tribute in the Congressional Record; named Honorary Speaker by Indiana House Speaker J. Roberts Dailey; named Honorary Secretary of State by Indiana House Speaker by Edwin J. Simcox; Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut proclaimed March 30 Gordon Englehart Day
Also, Indiana House and Senate passed a concurrent resolution honoring and recognizing Gordon Englehart on his retirement; Grand Buffalo award from the Indianapolis Press Club; named a Phoenix Gold member by the Indiana Democratic Central Committee; a resolution by the Indiana Republican Central Committee that recognizes and commends Gordon Englehart for his dedication in getting the story right and setting an example for all journalists.
He was the first president of the I.U. Journalism Alumni Association, a member of Delta Tau Delta social fraternity, Amos W. Butler chapter of Audubon Society, Eagle Creek Park Foundation Board, Indianapolis Press Club, and former deacon of Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. For a dozen years he tutored at Westminster Presbyterian Church near Tech High School.
Englehart was married to Martha Ann Rupel of Indianapolis, who died in 1995. Surviving are two sons, Stephen K. of Oakland, CA., and Thomas A. of Houston, TX, daughter Anne Carpenter of Indianapolis, five grandchildren and one great grandchild.
No services are scheduled at this time. Memorial contributions may be made to Eagle Creek Park Foundation.