Kay Gardella

Who was Kay Gardella?

Genevieve C. "Kay" Gardella worked at the New York Daily News for nearly sixty years.

Born in then heavily Italian-American Belleville, New Jersey, Gardella joined the Daily News as a copygirl two years after graduating from the now-defunct Upsala College. Over the remainder of the century Gardella worked her way through the ranks, interviewing everyone from Frank Sinatra to Edward R. Murrow.

She was particularly close friends with Bob Hope and his wife Dolores. The paper named her radio and television editor in 1975, a critic in 1981, and finally a columnist in 1993. Gardella often mourned for the "golden age of Hollywood" and criticized declining values.

Gardella suffered from cancer in her final years. Her last column appeared on March 19, 2005. On April 13, 2005, she died at Cabrini Medical Center in New York City. She was married to the late Daily News reporter, Anthony Marino, for many years; she left behind several nieces and nephews.