Triathlon Community Mourns the Loss of Media Legend Lois Schwartz

Lois Schwartz shooting at the IRONMAN World Championship with Rob Mackle. Photo courtesy of Bob Babbitt.

Triathlon lost one of the sport’s most influential media members on Christmas Eve – photographer Lois Schwartz, who co-founded Competitor Magazine with Bob Babbitt in 1987, passed away due to complications from Alzheimers a day before her 83rd birthday.

Schwartz’s epic photos routinely graced the cover of Competitor Magazine, and she was instrumental in helping foster the growth of the sport through its first three decades.

Bob Babbitt, Julika Kade, Lois Schwartz and Tyler Ward. Photo courtesy Bob Babbitt.

Babbitt posted this fitting tribute to Schwartz on social media yesterday:

We first met back in 1978 when I was hired to run a PE program at a small private school in San Diego called ‘The Children’s School.’ Lois Schwartz ran the art department and her two boys, Jonathan and Daniel, were at the school and became two of my all-time favorites. After I completed the third-ever Ironman back in 1980 on the island of Oahu, I fell in love with the sport of triathlon and eventually left teaching to work for a magazine called Running and Triathlon News. Loe was looking to leave teaching as well and wanted to learn how to shoot photography. Luckily for both Loe and me, the publisher of Running and Triathlon News was an amazing photographer by the name of Mike Plant and he took Loe under his wing. Before we knew it, I became the LA Editor for Running and Triathlon News and Loe became the photographer for the region. Every weekend we would drive to LA and cover running, triathlon, and eventually mountain biking events as well. We were never going to get rich from what we were doing, but we certainly loved being part of this amazing community.

When Running and Triathlon News went out of business after the April 1987 issue hit the streets, Loe and I had no clue what to do next. After unsuccessfully pitching my idea for a magazine that would cover all things endurance to a few California based publishers, three friends came to us with a check for $17,000 and the mandate to create our own publication.

The first edition of Competitor Magazine hit the streets on June 1, 1987 – just two months after Running and Triathlon News closed its doors – and the rest is history. Over the years we went from one edition of Competitor Magazine in Southern California to a network of publications nationwide that included Competitor Northern California, Competitor Texas, Competitor Northwest, and Competitor Florida. By the time 2008 rolled around and we sold the company to a private equity firm out of New York City, we had added Competitor Radio, the Muddy Buddy Ride and Run Series, the Competitor Endurance Sports Awards Gala, Fitness Runner, and Competitor For Women Magazine to our portfolio.

Loe was the best partner anyone could ever have. We never argued and our individual skill sets complemented each other perfectly. Loe oversaw our amazing staff, handled anything and everything on the financial front, developed great relationships with our race director clients, and became simply one of the best photographers ever to shoot endurance sports. Her epic shots of Kenny Souza, Mark Allen, Paula Newby Fraser, Dave Scott, and so many others graced the covers of Competitor Magazine for over two decades and if you say the words Iron War to any triathlete, they know exactly which Lois Schwartz image from the 1989 classic race between Dave Scott and Mark Allen you are talking about.

To be honest, I have no idea what Loe saw in me. When we first met, I was this guy with a lot of enthusiasm for life with long hair and a huge beard who loved this wacky new sport called triathlon along with anything and everything associated with endurance. Loe was not a triathlete or runner, but she made me believe that I was not crazy, that there was a business in there somewhere.

Loe…….I am a firm believer that all of us have someone in their lives who believed in them before we believed in ourselves. For me, that was you. You brought out the very best in me and in everyone who was fortunate enough to meet you and to know you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You will be missed, but the journey we shared together and your spectacular images will live on forever.

Cover photo by Lois Schwartz. Photo courtesy of Bob Babbitt.

“Loe was so deeply woven into the fabric of the sport we all loved,” Jeffrey Essakow, one of the founders of the Challenge Athletes Foundation, wrote on Facebook. “She got it – the people, the passion, the soul of endurance sports. She was an amazing person, always kind, always gentle, and always greeting you with that unforgettable, adorable smile. Loe had a quiet strength and a warmth that made everyone feel at easy, whether you were an elite athlete, a weekend warrior, or someone just finding your way.”

“She was one of the first in the sport I truly admired and looked up to,” wrote Dave McGillivray, race director of the Boston Marathon and a long-time IRONMAN competitor. “She was always so kind to me and my DMSE team when we were so heavily involved in triathlon. I’ll always remember her smile on the back of a motorcycle on the Queen K. Highway not only shooting the pros but also taking a few shots of us slow pokes bringing up the rear. She presented me with the Competitor Lifetime Achievement Award which I always considered one of my most cherish[ed] awards. She will be missed.”

I remember interviewing Schwartz for a story I wrote when Babbitt was inducted into the IRONMAN Hall of Fame in 2002. Incredibly humble, it didn’t take long to realize that she was the perfect compliment to his boundless energy and ideas – the woman who quietly got so much done behind the scenes. She was much more than a photographer – as Babbitt’s beautiful tribute suggests, she brought out the best in people and showcased this sport we love.

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