Polk Laffoon IV, former Cincinnati Post reporter, has died
Polk Laffoon IV – a former Cincinnati Post and Detroit Free Press reporter – died Aug. 5. He was 75.
He died after having a heart attack while swimming near his summer home in Harbor Springs, Michigan, according to his obituary.
Laffoon was born in Cincinnati and attended Cincinnati Country Day School in Indian Hill. He furthered his education at Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.
Laffoon briefly worked at Procter & Gamble before landing a job at the Cincinnati Post, the first of many roles in journalism he would have for the rest of his life.
He married Pinky Coleman in 1973 and they had three children, Coleman, Brent and Samantha. The family lived in Detroit, where Laffoon worked for the Detroit Free Press, then returned to Cincinnati, where he oversaw investor relations for Taft Broadcasting.
He also worked as an editor and marketing executive at the Miami Herald and worked on Knight Ridder's corporate staff.
"His relationships were informed by an insatiable curiosity. Reading and writing, trying to understand the world he was living in, were his passions," according to his obituary.
"He needed a rich life of the mind and he made it happen. Reading three daily newspapers was part of his morning routine. He never wasted a minute, whether reading, exercising, trying to improve his golf, investigating art galleries, trying a new recipe, tinkering at the piano, keeping up with friends and neighbors."
After retiring in 2006, the Laffoon family moved back to Cincinnati and he began to regularly write for Cincinnati Magazine, joined the Cincinnati Literary Club and served on the board of trustees for the Cincinnati Art Museum.
In addition to his wife and children, survivors include brother Peter Laffoon and four grandchildren.
A service will be 10:30 a.m. Sept. 9 at the Cincinnati Art Museum in Walnut Hills.
Memorials can be made to the Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45202; or Little Traverse Conservancy for Emmet County, 3264 Powell Road, Harbor Springs, MI 49740.
Contact Briana Rice at 513-568-3496 or brice@enquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter at @BriRiceWrites.