Davenport, Iowa -- It was an emotional scene at the end of Lee Enterprise’s annual shareholders meeting Wednesday. There stood the young and very nervous Erica Douglas telling Lee directors and executives how her father, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch retiree, died a few months ago after Lee cut off his health care benefits.

“My father helped people all his life,'' Erica read from her letter to the company. “But when he needed help, the company that he spent his life serving, threw him out and reneged on its promises.”

Robert Douglas, who died in his home, suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure but was unable to get health care or the medicine he needed. He was 59.

Erica was accompanied to the Davenport meeting by a contingent of Guild members and retirees from St. Louis. One retiree, Richard P. Hughes, presented the company with a bill for $7,792, the amount his health insurance has cost since Lee cut him off.

Robert Douglas was a conscientious and respected newsroom clerk at the Post for nearly 40 years. He and several dozen support staff were laid off in 2008 but knew they would get some severance, a small pension, and health benefits for life under the St. Louis Newspaper Guild contract. That perk induced more than 100 other newsroom employees to accept buyouts in 2005 and 2007.

But Lee broke its promise and terminated the health benefits at the end of 2010. The Guild is fighting in federal court to get them reinstated, and has spent more than $250,000 on the case so far.

Lee told Robert and other retirees they’d have to pay 100 percent of the costs to keep the Post-Dispatch health plan. Doing so would have cost Robert his $366 monthly pension, plus another $214 each month. ``I can't afford to pay for it,'' he told the company.

He was too young for Medicare, was not able to get another plan, and was turned down for Medicaid. He tried some health clinics with limited success. He cadged insulin from other diabetics but it wasn't helping.

 “On December 16, my family and I found my father's body on his kitchen floor. He was 59,” Erica told the shareholders as she fought back tears. “What a way to find your dad, the man who loved you and raised you, the man who taught you right from wrong.

“Do you know all of the harm that you've caused your employees and their families? They are human beings, just like you. They gave their all, only to find out, sadly, that loyalty is a one-way street.

 “My father was Robert Douglas and I hope that you remember his name for the rest of your lives.”