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Longtime Jewelry Journalist Bill Shuster Dies at 71
Shuster worked for JCK magazine for 29 years, winning three Jesse H. Neal awards along the way.
Bill Shuster, who covered the jewelry and watch industries as a journalist for three decades, died late last month at the age of 71.
Philadelphia--William George Shuster, who worked for decades as a journalist in the watch and jewelry industries, died Aug. 30 of complications from diabetes.
He was 71.
Shuster was born on Aug. 23, 1946, in Philadelphia to the late William Lewis Shuster, Jr. and Lieselotte Ursula Amalie Shuster (nee Lenz).
Best known by his colleagues as Bill, Shuster worked as a journalist for 40 years, first as a newspaper reporter covering government, politics, education and business at the Bucks County Daily Intelligencer in Pennsylvania and then as a senior editor at JCK magazine.
Shuster spent 29 years at JCK, winning the Jesse H. Neal Award, the highest honor in business journalism, three times. He also was the author of “Legacy of Leadership: A History of the Gemological Institute of America,” a 450-page book that was the first comprehensive history of the GIA.
Later in his career, he worked as a contributing writer and editor for numerous magazines and websites, including the consumer-facing Facets and the daily newspaper put out during the Baselworld show.
He also enjoyed movies, books and plays, particularly those by William Shakespeare.
As longtime friend and fellow jewelry industry journalist Peggy Jo Donahue put it in a Facebook tribute to Shuster: “He was an absolute encyclopedia of knowledge on so many subjects, it took your breath away.”
Shuster is survived by his younger brothers, Ronald and Robert Shuster; aunt Hildegard Schaefer and her husband Wilfried of Goenningen, Germany; and numerous cousins in the United States as well as in Austria and Germany.
A viewing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 6, at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, with the funeral following at 8 p.m.
A graveside service is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 7, at Pine Grove Memorial Park in Warminster, Pennsylvania.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Shuster’s memory to World Vision, P.O. Box 78481, Tacoma, WA 98481; Wycliffe Bible Translators, P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, FL 32862; or Samaritan’s Purse, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607-3000.
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