Pennsylvania business reporter dies at 64

Gretchen Metz, a business reporter for the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pa., for more than 24 yares has died this week from pancreatic cancer. She was 64.

Michael Rellahan of the paper writes, “Metz covered every facet of business in the county during its period of enormous economic growth — from the opening of small family-owned businesses to the high-powered machinations of multimillion-dollar corporations. She wrote about contentious labor strikes, described how the weather would play havoc on or spin gold for local merchants, and chronicled the rise of the home-shopping giant QVC.

“Her interests ranged from farming and agriculture, to the everyday life of workers, to the psychology of shopping, leading her to jokingly nickname herself ‘The Queen of Retail.’

“Metz was diagnosed in the fall of 2009 with pancreatic cancer, a fact she shared with readers in columns she wrote promoting legislation to increase funding for expanded research into the fatal disease. She underwent surgery and treatment for her condition, but it resurfaced in early 2012. Despite its effects, she continued to work at the Daily Local nearly full time — interviewing sources, writing stories, organizing the paper’s Business Section coverage — but fell ill on Friday, March 1.”

Read more here.