Student photojournalist to be memorialized in D.C.

Ryan Rendleman, a senior from Batavia and former Daily Egyptian photojournalist, will be memorialized in Washington March 30.

Rendleman’s name will be etched into a glass panel and join more than 1,800 others who have died while reporting as part of the Journalists Memorial, a serene two-story structure that has honored fallen news people since the early 1800s, said Kathy Trost, director of exhibit development at the Newseum, which houses the memorial. The Newseum is overseen by the Freedom Forum, a group that supports news-related organizations and academic institutions.

“His memory will now be preserved permanently in this gorgeous museum,” said Bill Recktenwald, journalist-in-residence at SIUC.

Recktenwald said he helped the Rendleman family pursue the honor after Rendleman was killed April 29 in a car accident on his way to complete a Daily Egyptian assignment in O’Fallon.  Rendleman was stopped behind a semitrailer at a road construction project on Highway 127 when he was hit from behind by a second semitrailer. He died on impact.

Rendleman, who worked at the Daily Egyptian for more than two years, was weeks away from graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. The university later awarded him a posthumous degree at the May 10 ceremony.

The memorial is a testament to his dedication, Trost said. It serves as a way to honor journalists without category — Rendleman’s death was just as significant as a journalist who was covering the war in Iraq, she said.

“Our goal is to be inclusive as possible really to do the one thing that is most important — to honor journalists,” she said.

Rendleman was on his way to interview and photograph a girl with Tay-Sachs Disease, who was the recipient of a Blue Sky Vineyard benefit the Daily Egyptian planned to preview.

Rendleman was known for his strong spiritual commitment and involvement with The Vine, a community church in Carbondale. Steve Dame, Rendleman’s pastor and friend, said Rendleman’s commitment to God and to journalism went hand-in-hand.

Meeting the family and traveling to take their photographs rather than running the story without a photo was just one example of his character and devotion to his work, Dame said.

“He wanted make a difference by taking photos and serving people, hopefully so that he could help transform their lives in whatever way he could,” Dame said.

Rendleman’s inclusion in the memorial has spurred one of his colleagues to travel from Carbondale to Washington D.C. to attend the dedication.

Wendy Weinhold, a doctoral student from Nebraska in mass communication and media arts and former writing coach at the Daily Egyptian, said the memorial has helped her reevaluate the importance of why Rendleman was where he was when he died.

“Knowing now that Ryan died in service in the trade he loved — it makes me really proud of him, of our newspaper, of ‘our family,’ and certainly proud for his family,” she said.
“It is with great pride that he will be included in this memorial.”