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Dolores Fox Ciardelli, the award-winning journalist who helped lead the Pleasanton Weekly as managing editor and served as the founding editor of the former Danville Weekly, died this month after battling breast and brain cancers in retirement. She was 78.
As gifted and creative a feature writer as she was, Dolores was a down-the-line reporter through and through, so I thought she would want a straight news lede for her obituary story.
I hope she’ll cut me some slack for taking the liberty of first name use though.
Well beyond her profound impact on my growth as an editor and a man, Dolores was such an important part of our Embarcadero Media family, both inside the organization and externally.
As I told our colleagues upon learning of her death, her style and perspective in community storytelling exemplified why our local newspapers and websites resonate with readers and sources. Dolores was the best of us.
The secret sauce was her life experience as a child of the South Bay, an educated woman, a citizen of the world, a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a friend.
Born on June 25, 1946, Dolores was raised in San Jose and earned a bachelor’s degree from her hometown state university, including working on SJSU’s Spartan Daily. During that time, at 18 years old, she met Jim Ciardelli and they forged a five-decade love story that included 47 years of marriage, son Pepe and daughter Zoe (and later four grandkids).
They lived in New Mexico, Texas and Marysville while Jim served in the Air Force from 1968 to 1972, and they later spent time residing in Saudi Arabia (1975-78) and Thailand (1987 to 1992), according to the obituary published by her family on our Lasting Memories page. The family home was kept in Walnut Creek from 1980 until 2014.
Dolores got back into journalism in Bangkok, with the American Women’s Club magazine Sawaddi and the Bangkok Post. Upon returning stateside, she worked for the Contra Costa Times from 1993 until 2000 – when she took a leap of faith and joined an upstart weekly newspaper down Interstate 680 from her office in Concord.
She worked as the Pleasanton Weekly’s managing editor from January 2000 until she became the founding editor of the Danville Weekly, which our company launched in May 2005. Dolores would be the editor in Danville until the paper folded amid Great Recession pressures in October 2009.
She came back to the Pleasanton operation as managing editor for nearly four years and then spent another eight years in her final role, as Tri-Valley Life editor, where she specialized in feature stories and arts-and-entertainment coverage.
I find myself thinking about how two major moments in my life intertwined with personal junctures in the twilight of Dolores’ journalism career.
When I started as the online editor of Danville Express in November 2013, Dolores was nearing the end of her recovery from a serious heart attack. As the calendar flipped, we spent only a few weeks (if that) as colleagues in the office when she had to step away again as Jim was diagnosed with aggressive bladder cancer. He died May 9, 2014 at 68.
Dolores returned part time later that year and continued to write for our lifestyles section, mostly remote after moving to Mission Viejo to be closer to her daughter and grandkids. We worked together until weeks after I came back from my month’s paternity leave in early 2022.
While my wife and I were rearing our newborn, Dolores was quietly experiencing issues with her motor skills. She was soon diagnosed with brain and breast cancers and retired that February.
We kept in touch by email and text over the next couple of years. She enjoyed seeing photos of Francis and exchanging the occasional Tri-Valley news anecdote. The communications quieted by last spring, likely a sign in hindsight.
Dolores died peacefully in hospice care on Dec. 6.
The Pleasanton Weekly, DanvilleSanRamon.com and Livermore Vine would not be what they are today without Dolores Fox Ciardelli.
On an individual level, I learned so many journalism lessons and tricks of the trade from her. I remember when she corrected me against saying “Sierras” (because the word sierra means a range of mountains). And I always double check the stacking of stories on a page in the paper to make sure there aren’t repetitive lead verbs or other keywords in headlines and subheads.
She earned multiple California Journalism awards during her long tenure with us, in addition to the many more her team won with her guidance as managing editor. Her personal list included a Certificate of Achievement in Lifestyle Coverage in 2011 and a trio in 2022 – First Place for Arts & Entertainment Coverage, Third Place for Feature Story and Fifth Place for Columns.
Geoff Gillette, who worked as a freelancer and then as a staff reporter for Dolores at the Danville Weekly before shifting his career into government communications for the town of Danville and now the city of Pleasant Hill, called her “a phenomenal mentor and boss … She made me a better reporter and writer.”
“Her ability to look at a piece of writing and see how to bring the story out more fully was second to none,” Gillette told me by email. “She was a great journalist with an eye towards telling the story truthfully and fairly. I valued her guidance and friendship, and her passing is a loss for all of us.”
I’ve been reading some of my favorite articles of hers in the days since. If I had to pick one that captured her storytelling essence, I would point to a feature she wrote in early 2020, “Perfect balance: embalming and acting” — about theater actress Chloë Angst, who paid the bills working at Graham Hitch Mortuary. Only Dolores could weave that tale together so seamlessly.
Then there were her popular Valley Views columns, including “The fantastic fun of starting a paper” that reflected on the early days of the Pleasanton Weekly and “Deadlines adieu” announcing her retirement.
My favorite column of hers, though, was probably among the hardest to write: “A comfortable chair, a cup of coffee and thou” in the final edition of the Danville Weekly on Oct. 2, 2009. Her pragmatic perspective in the face of such professional heartache still inspires me 15 years later.
“I will miss the pride I took in each and every issue when it was delivered to our Danville office, as I apprehensively turned the pages fearing a glaring error while admiring the interplay of stories, photos and opinions. On the other hand, many people have told me that they already only read us online. This is encouraging because it is where my energy will now go,” she wrote, adding:
“Life is all about phases.” RIP Dolores.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
Thank you for a great story and tribute to your boss and friend.
Truly a great lady. I will always cherish the “phase” of our lives that had Dolores in it.
Thank you, Jeremy, for a tenderly written piece honoring your mentor, colleague and friend. Those must be the hardest of stories to write, and somehow we know Dolores is smiling at your skillful mastery of balancing emotion with deadline. Deepest condolences.
Thank you, Jeremy, for the most wonderful article about Dolores who I will truly miss. You definitely captured some of her incredible qualities and skills including her integrity, creativity, inspiring stories and fantastic writing skills.
Several years ago, I met Dolores when she wrote an article about my daughter’s dance company’s annual production of the “Nutcracker” (I apologize in advance for any errors.) No story was too small or big. Dolores and I met again when we were guests on TV30s “In a Word.” While I was incredibly nervous, she was calm, collected and full of amazing insights. We quickly became friends and colleagues.
In the years following, when Dolores was editor of “The Danville Weekly,” she asked me if I’d be interested in writing life-style stories, and she would serve as my editor which I truly needed. I soon realized after a few interviews that these would be incredibly inspiring heartfelt stories of courage and strength that Dolores felt needed to be told. Thankfully she helped me do this.
Dolores and I remained friends ever since, meeting once a month for “Ladies Who Lunch” whenever and wherever we could. Dolores was always positive, upbeat, and encouraging even when she was not well. I will always miss her, my dear friend and colleague. Thank you for everything.