Former LFP publisher Susan Muszak remembered as business leader who put family first

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London has lost a business and media leader in Susan Muszak, who is being remembered by her family as a fierce supporter of those she loved and held dear.

Muszak, 62, the last publisher of The London Free Press, died suddenly this week after falling ill at her Grand Bend home.

“For me, my mother was everything, she was my greatest role model, the most beautiful woman and I looked up to her in every way,” said her daughter Alex Carruthers.

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“It is a complete shock, we are devastated to lose her like this.”

Muszak died Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. at Victoria Hospital, with family by her side.

She leaves her husband, John Muszak, and five children, Alex, Mitchell, Ryan, Matthew and Natalie, and granddaughters Charlee and Mia.

“There was so much that she loved and the most important thing to her was her family. We have a very strong family because of her and it feels surreal not to have her here,” said Carruthers, wife of Free Press crime reporter Dale Carruthers.

Muszak, a Hamilton native, turned a two-week Grade 12 co-op placement at the Hamilton Spectator into a 40-year career in newspapers. She retired as Free Press publisher and chief executive in 2016.

“She was tough as nails. In a male-dominated industry she rose to the top,” said her husband John. “She managed with an iron fist in a velvet glove.

“I will miss her a lot,” he said. “She was my best friend, my soulmate, she was everything to me. She was beautiful outside and inside as well.”

She and John married in 1999, blending their families. They have a son, Ryan.

Lisa Catania, who worked under Muszak as Free Press advertising director, cited her as a mentor.

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“One of the moments that really personifies who Susan was, happened during a particularly stressful time at work. We were facing tight deadlines, demands from our new owners and everyone was feeling the pressure. I remember Susan calling me into her office, and instead of focusing on the urgency of the situation, she asked how my family was doing,” Catania said.

“She reminded me that, no matter how intense things got, family and well-being always came first. That was Susan’s philosophy in everything she did, the importance of work-life balance. She knew when to push us to be our best, but she also knew when it was time to step back and take care of what truly mattered.”

Muszak was also a “master at her craft” with an innate understanding of the media business, Catania said. 

“Susan was the definition of a mentor, always there with a kind word, constructive feedback, or a brilliant idea. She earned the respect and admiration of both her staff and our clients.”

Muszak, who loved to garden, decorate and help landscape family members’ homes, also enjoyed golf, card games and travel.

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She is also survived by brothers Michael Meyer (Bryn), Larry Meyer (Cindy) and Zen Muszak (Terry) as well as her first husband, David Weber, and many nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her parents Don and Mary Meyer (Oliphant). 

“There is no boss I respected more or I was happier to work for and with. Many at The Free Press would say the same,” editor-in-chief Joe Ruscitti said. 

“It is perhaps easy to forget now what a formidable feat it would have been for her to rise to publisher in what in many ways then was still a man’s world.”

Muszak was Free Press publisher from 2001-15, while also senior group publisher for Sun Media Corp. from 2008-15 and Southwestern Ontario media sales director from 2015-16 for Postmedia, which owns and publishes the Free Press. Earlier, she was advertising director for the Spectator and Brantford Expositor.

Visitation will be held at the Westview Funeral Chapel, 709 Wonderland Rd. N., Oct. 10 at 1 p.m., followed by a celebration of life at 3 p.m.

ndebono@postmedia.com

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