Albert Calogero

To his students, Albert Calogero was a tough professor. For almost eight years, he taught this university’s aspiring journalists how to produce, edit and report.

But he was more than just an adjunct professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. He was a mentor, an award-winning producer, a father and a friend. Calogero, 60, died July 5 after apparently collapsing during a morning run while on vacation with his family in Ohio.

Calogero worked as a media editor and producer at CBS affiliate WUSA9-TV, but twice a week he traveled from Washington to College Park to teach JOUR 262: News Videography.

He devoted his time to students, said CNS broadcast bureau chief Sue Kopen Katcef, in an effort to mold the next generation of journalists.

“He poured his heart and soul into what he did as an adjunct,” Katcef said. “He put in hours so far above what you could expect or hope for, especially while balancing another very demanding full-time job.”

It wasn’t unusual for Calogero to “close down Knight Hall,” Katcef said, staying past midnight some nights after teaching his class. For several years, he organized a partnership between WUSA9 and this university for Maryland Day, using Knight Hall as a backdrop for the channel’s broadcast one year and showing a student’s package on the air.

Calogero frequently offered driven students opportunities in the industry, including internships, experience and, on occasion, a part-time job.

Marissa Parra, who works as a video editor at WUSA9, took Calogero’s course in spring 2013 before working as his teaching assistant the next semester and eventually getting hired by him.

“If there was ever a student who looked like they really wanted it, he would do whatever he could to make it work out, and he did that for a huge number of people,” Parra said. “His passion for inspiring the new generation of journalists was so evident in everything that he did.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and film from this university in 1976, Calogero went on to work at WTOP-TV and WDVM-TV before settling at WUSA9-TV. He served as adjunct professor both at this university and Georgetown University.

Calogero was recognized with numerous awards throughout his career, including 25 National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Washington Region Emmy Awards, three Best of Gannett Awards, three Edward R. Murrow awards and five James E. Scripps Distinguished Journalism Awards.

If you had asked what he was most proud of, though, you were likely to get an earful about his children, said co-worker Bruce Leshan, a media correspondent for WUSA9.

“You couldn’t walk by his edit bay, practically, without him bringing out his picture of [his daughter] Cate as a lifeguard down at Ocean City — he was so proud she’d completed the training. And his son had just gotten into Gonzaga, Al was just beside himself that he got in,” Leshan said. “He loved his family so much.”

At the station, co-workers knew Calogero was always willing to put together a story package, help with an information technology problem or even just chat about how things were going.

“That’s the kind of person he was; he would drop anything to help you,” said Leshan, adding that on one occasion, he called Calogero from home with a computer issue and Calogero showed up at his house minutes later to help.

Katcef said, “His legacy will live on with all the lives that he’s touched.”

Calogero is survived by his wife Valerie; his children, Cate and Joseph; his sister Mary Lou Calogero; and his parents, Pat and Joe Calogero.

A funeral service will take place at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 10, at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 3513 N St. NW in Washington. In lieu of flowers, the family asks contributions be made in his name to Catholic Charities of Washington.