116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cancer columnist/advocate Shirley Ruedy dies
Longtime Gazette features writer received award for her work at a 1988 White House ceremony
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Shirley Ruedy, longtime Gazette features reporter and author of the award-winning Cancer Update column, died Friday (Jan. 30, 2026) at her home in Cedar Rapids. A three-time cancer survivor, she had just celebrated her 90th birthday.
Ruedy began writing the Cancer Update column in 1991, after she had survived two diagnoses of breast cancer. It was the first newspaper column in the U.S. devoted to explaining the science and the emotions of cancer. The column ran twice a month in The Gazette through 2007, when she retired.
In 2022, she collected 70 of her favorite columns into a book, “Finally … A Manual on How to Handle Cancer: Reflections, Ruminations and Rooting Out Rubbish by a Cancer Columnist and Survivor,” which remains available on Amazon.com.
In addition, Ruedy was a longtime volunteer with the American Cancer Society, visiting 176 women after they’d had mastectomies. That work and her column led to her receiving the Courage Award from the American Cancer Society on its 75th anniversary, an honor conferred in a Rose Garden ceremony at the White House in 1988.
She also was awarded the Batten Medal, given by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, for “concern for humanity and excellence in journalism,” and the Media Award from the Congressional Families Action for Cancer Awareness in Washington, D.C.
The funeral Mass will be 10 a.m. Wednesday at All Saints Catholic Church, 720 29th St. SE, Cedar Rapids, with a luncheon to follow. Visitation will be 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Cedar Memorial Park Chapel State Room, 4200 First Ave. NE. Inurnment will be in the spring at Mount Calvary Cemetery.
She is survived by her husband of 60 years, George; their daughter, Anne Marie Stephens, and her husband, Bill, of Grinnell; and two grandchildren, Ella and Jack Stephens.
A full obituary will appear in Wednesday’s Gazette. Memorials may be directed to the American Cancer Society (cancer.org) or to a charity of the donor’s choice.
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