Whitney Elizabeth Blake of Washington, D.C. (formerly of Warwick, NY) passed away on April 4, 2023 after a long illness. She was 37 years old.
Born on June 7, 1985, in Seoul, Korea, she was the daughter of Robert, Jr. and Valentine (nee Deistler) Blake.
Whitney was salutatorian when she graduated from the Warwick Valley High School in 2003. She went on to graduate from the University of Virginia with honors, earning her degree in three years. One of her professors called her “exceptionally intelligent, industrious, highly principled, and a superb writer... She is one of the most impressive students I have encountered in my more than 20 years teaching.”
Whitney was working as a freelance political journalist in Washington, D.C. Her pieces appeared in The Weekly Standard, The Washington Examiner, The Federalist, The NY Sun, and on FoxNews.com. She had also worked at Fox News Washington, D.C. bureau as an associate producer and at The Washington Examiner as an online editor and business reporter. She interviewed top White House officials, cabinet secretaries, senators, members of Congress, and governors, among other influential individuals in our nation’s capital. Whitney was dedicated to her work and did it well.
Whitney is survived by her loving parents, Bob and Valentine Blake of Warwick, NY; and devoted brother, Robert Blake Ill.
Visitation will be on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. with a 1:00 p.m. service at Lazear-Smith & Vander Plaat Memorial Home, 17 Oakland Avenue, Warwick, NY. Interment will follow in Warwick Cemetery, 50 Oakland Ave., Warwick, NY.
ln lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Whitney’s memory to Jill’s House, Autism Speaks, Operation Homefront, Compassion International or the U.S. National Marrow Donor Program.
Arrangements were made by Lazear-Smith & Vander Plaat Memorial Home, 17 Oakland Ave., Warwick, NY. To send an online condolence, visit www.lsvpmemorialhome.com.