SCHEER: What's Next Fund honors life and work of journalist Eric DuVall
Apr. 25—As a newsman who worked at a variety of jobs in Western New York, Eric DuVall met a lot of people and touched a lot of lives.
Over the weekend, family members, friends and colleagues who knew and loved DuVall gathered in Buffalo to reminisce about his work as a journalist, his role in the community and the laughs and good times they shared with him over the years.
It has now been a little more than a year since DuVall's untimely passing at the age of 39 on Feb. 12, 2022.
More than 350 attended a fundraiser in his honor on Saturday at Seneca One tower.
The event was organized by members of a new non-profit organization — the Eric DuVall What's Next Fund — which was created to oversee an annual scholarship that has been established in DuVall's name to help journalism students at his alma mater, Canisius College.
In addition to the scholarship, proceeds from the event will help support operations at the Canisius College student newspaper, The Griffin, where DuVall served as an editor during his college years, and a donation to the Western New York chapter of the Special Olympics.
Rob Hummel, a long-time friend of DuVall who helped organize Saturday's event, thanked all those who participated and the staff and management at Seneca One for their hard work and generosity.
"He was a pretty humble guy when it came to taking credit for things, but I'm sure he'd be honored that we want to keep his name living on," Hummel said of DuVall.
An Amherst native, DuVall graduated from Sweet Home High School before enrolling at Canisius College where he was a member of the 2004 graduating class.
He worked as a reporter at the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal before becoming, at age 26, managing editor for the Tonawanda News.
After the Tonawanda News closed in 2014, DuVall served as news director for WLVL 1340 AM in Lockport and later worked as the lead writer for UPI during the 2016 presidential election.
In 2017, he got a job working with the Buffalo News where he handled reporting and editing duties for the Twin Cities Sun, a weekly publication that primarily covered Tonawanda and North Tonawanda.
He was working as an assistant city editor at the Buffalo News when he died unexpectedly in his Buffalo home last year.
My last interaction with Eric came in messages we exchanged in the run-up to the second-to-last weekend of the 2021-2022 NFL football season when we were scheduled to battle it out for the right to be called champion of the prestigious Niagara Gazette Fantasy Football League.
Eric won the league and I was the runner-up.
Sadly, I never got the chance to properly congratulate him.
Eric was a cool guy who had a great sense of humor.
Like most reporters, he had a gift for gab when it came to discussing the topics of the day, his beloved Buffalo Bills and St. Louis Cardinals and, of course, the always curious political and governmental doings in Niagara County.
We didn't socialize a ton but whenever I saw Eric it was always pleasant and there was never any shortage of laughs.
I speak for a lot of people when I say he was widely admired for his reporting, editing and writing skills and that he was one of the good ones in the local news-gathering and newspaper business.
It's not too late to support efforts to continue to recognize DuVall's contributions.
The best way to do so is to like the Facebook page for the Eric DuVall What's Next Fund. There'll you'll find information about how to contribute and about future events. For additional information, email ericduvall.whatsnextfund@gmail.
