Daniela Petroff, AP's Fashion and Vatican Reporter, Dies at Age 80 in Rome
Daniela Petroff, the journalist who helped shape The Associated Press's fashion and Vatican coverage for nearly four decades with distinctive style, authority, and wit, has died in Rome. She was 80 years old.
Petroff passed away on Tuesday at her home, where she was recovering from a fall, according to her husband, Victor Simpson, the retired AP Rome bureau chief.
A Pioneering Career in Journalism
Petroff worked for The Chicago Tribune and Time magazine in Rome before joining The Associated Press as a Vatican reporter and Milan fashion correspondent. She launched what became a cornerstone of the AP's culture report, covering the four weeks of menswear and womenswear shows each year.
In 1985, the Simpsons faced an unimaginable tragedy when their 11-year-old daughter, Natasha, was killed during the December 27 terrorist attack at Rome's airport, which also wounded their son, Michael. When their youngest daughter, Debbie, was born two years later, Pope John Paul II personally called to congratulate Petroff.
In announcing her death, Simpson wrote that she had gone to sleep after lunch and chose not to wake up, "to finally embrace again her beloved Natasha."
Leading AP's Milan Fashion Coverage
Fluent in Italian, German, French, and English, Petroff spearheaded AP's Milan fashion coverage just as Giorgio Armani was rising to international prominence. She set the standard for other reporters with informative, succinct, and fact-based dispatches that avoided opinion and reviews.
"She had a gift for putting the facts into kind of a very artful context," said Lisa Anderson, who covered Milan fashion for The Chicago Tribune for nearly a decade starting in the mid-1980s. "She looked at that industry, which often takes itself too seriously, with a lot of amusement as well as respect, which is probably the right combination of qualities to approach fashion reporting."
Petroff's last AP byline appeared in September, when her authoritative profile of Armani was published following the designer's death. She wrote: "Starting with an unlined jacket, a simple pair of pants and an urban palette, Armani put Italian ready-to-wear style on the international fashion map in the late 1970s, creating an instantly recognizable relaxed silhouette that has propelled the fashion house for half a century."
She covered the rise of Gianni Versace, Gucci during the Tom Ford era, Karl Lagerfeld at Fendi, and the Missoni fashion dynasty. Petroff often applied her fashion knowledge and sharp writing skills to the Vatican beat.
In a 2014 story about Pope Francis's new batch of cardinals, she mused: "But with the 'slum pope' now calling the sartorial shots, fashionistas and Vaticanistas are wondering how his new cardinals — who hail from some of the poorest places on Earth, including Haiti, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast — will dress themselves for their new role."
Covering Major Cultural Events
Between assignments, Petroff reported on some of Italy's most significant cultural events, including the 2003 reopening of Venice's La Fenice opera house after a devastating fire. She wrote at the reopening: "True to its namesake the phoenix, La Fenice has risen up from the ashes."
Early Life and Personal Background
Born in 1945 in Mecklenburg, Germany, Petroff grew up first in Paris and then New York, where she attended the all-girl Convent of the Sacred Heart Catholic school. An only child, she moved to Rome with her parents for her final two years of high school, completing her education at Marymount International School.
After attending Manhattanville College in New York, Petroff returned to Rome and graduated from La Sapienza University with a degree in modern languages. In Rome, she met the new AP news editor, Victor Simpson, and they married in 1973.
A childhood friend from New York, Gail Willett Bejarano, recalled ice-skating in Central Park, after-school ice cream at Schraftt's, and pushing boundaries with the nuns at Sacred Heart. While Petroff was a top student, she was also part of a group of girls who would go to ogle boys at nearby Loyola, "hike your uniform up and put lipstick on, all forbidden," Bejarano remembered.
After retiring from AP in 2017, Petroff dedicated herself to her alma mater, Marymount, where she served as chair of the board.
Funeral and Memorial Arrangements
A private funeral is scheduled for Thursday, with a memorial service planned for Monday at Marymount. In addition to Simpson, Petroff is survived by her son, Michael, and daughter, Debbie.
