Susan Ashworth Bader, freelance journalist and former Editor-in-Chief of TV Technology, a broadcast industry trade publication, died suddenly on December 4 at her home in Oakland, CA. She was 52.

Compassionate and curious, Susie, as she was known by family, friends and colleagues, was drawn to reporting at an early age. With no school newspaper at Serrano High School, she instead worked on the yearbook. At UC Riverside, she covered campus events from basketball to student body governance meetings for the Highlander.

After graduation, she was accepted at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University to obtain her Masters Degree. There it was crystallized in her, the core journalistic standards of accuracy, transparency and accountability, which she fiercely held herself and other journalists to throughout her carrier.

During her last quarter at school, with Montana, her cat in tow, Susie moved to Washington, D.C., to continue her studies through assignments covering breaking news events in the nation’s capital. She met her future husband, Rob Bader, in Gaithersburg, MD. She first began working for TV Technology where she reported on advances in the field of broadcast television, from the newest flying cameras filming the X-Games to virtual reality TV news studios and even “how that elusive yellow first-down line appears on a football field”.

Susie and Rob were married in her hometown of Wrightwood, CA, in 1999. They moved to the Bay Area when Rob was accepted into law school at UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. Susie worked for the housing publication Hanley Wood as an editor before moving on to Inman News and American City Business Journals. Susie was a reporter at the annual National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas for many years.

Sadly, in 2022, the Bader family was devastated when Rob was diagnosed Stage IV Cancer. He passed away in March 2023 and now Susie has passed in December. Susie is survived by her children Jackson, Nate and Charlotte, her sister Jennifer, her brother George Kenneth and her father George Richard. There will be a memorial service for Susie in Richmond, CA, at the Point Richmond United Methodist Church at 11am on Saturday, February 3, 2024.

To send flowers to the family or place a tree in memory of Susan Ashworth Bader, please visit our Tribute Store.