Category: 1950s

Joseph Blade, a longtime reporter at the Minneapolis Star and Star Tribune, died Nov. 23, 2019 at the age of 85.

Born April 13, 1934, in Oklahoma, Blade began working as a reporter at his high school paper, then attended Medill on a full scholarship.

Blade joined the U.S. Army and spent time overseas in the 50s. But his heart lay with journalism, leading him to write stories and instigate change upon return for over four decades.

In 1975, Blade uncovered mistreatment of patients and financial mismanagement at River Villa, Minnesota’s largest privately owned nursing home, leading to five convictions, prison sentences and increased state regulations of nursing homes.

His investigative work “consumed” him, his partner of 47 years, Ann Burckhardt told the Star Tribune. She added,“when he was on somebody’s trail, it absolutely took over his life.”

Blade would often rent a motel room where he could spread out boxes of paperwork, toiling “night and day till he had the details he sought,” Burckhardt said.

Blade later wrote an award winning series about job satisfaction. He retired in 1990.

Blade and Burkhardt met at the Star Tribune, where she was a longtime reporter and editor for the Taste section.

Blade is survived by Ann Burckhardt and brothers Bill and Richard.

http://www.startribune.com/joseph-blade-reporter-and-world-traveler-dies-at-85/566478452/?refresh=true

George William Kelly passed away April 7, 2020 from the coronavirus after a four-year fight with cancer. He was 92.

Kelly was born August 21, 1927 to James Lamar Kelly and Laurie Kelly (née Brantley) in Evergreen, Ala. He was the second youngest of his siblings, Dorothy, James, Charles, and Robert. Their father was a lawyer and held the Conecuh County Seat.

In World War II, George enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska. After the war, he attended Medill through the G.I. Bill. He also completed post-graduate coursework in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Upon finishing his studies, Kelly worked as a freelance journalist and traveled throughout India in the 1950s travelled extensively in India in the 1950’s, working as a freelance journalist. His then moved to New York where he lived for the rest of his life.

His time in New York saw many chapters that combined his passions for science, cooking, traveling, and writing. He researched at an electron microscopy laboratory at New York University, owned a retail shop importing Indian fighter kites called Go Fly a Kite, owned a cookbook shop–complete with a mascot named Cookie the Minah Bird (Cookbooks Only), worked as a public relations director at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and edited a real estate publication called the Red Book for Yale Robbins Publications.

Kelly also authored poems, stories, songs, and most notably, children’s books. His children’s publications include “What Does the Tooth Fairy Do with All Those Teeth?”, and “Santa Christina and her Sled Dogs,” which was inspired by his time in Alaska.

Kelly married Jain Wright, also a Northwestern graduate, in 1969 and raised one daughter, Georgette.

George is preceded in death by his parents and siblings. He is survived by his wife Jain Kelly, daughter Georgette Kelly (m. Annaliisa Ahlman) of Chicago, and many beloved nieces, ,nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.

http://hosting-26110.tributes.com/obituary/show/George-W.-Kelly-108417508

Howard Fibich, 88, of Brookfield, Wisc., died peacefully on February 26, 2020. Fibich was born January 6, 1932 in Oak Park, Ill., and raised in Chicago. He graduated from Schurz High School prior to earning bachelor’s and masters from Medill.

He moved to Wisconsin in 1956 to join the staff of The Milwaukee Journal, where he spent a long and storied career, rising from the copy editing to retire as deputy managing editor in 1993. He was a friend, mentor and frequent goad to two generations of journalists.

Howard was an avid swimmer into his 80s. He competed as a high school athlete and later supplemented college scholarships through summer lifeguard jobs at Lake Geneva. There he met the love of his life, Carrol Jean Anderson. They were married June 5, 1954.

In retirement, he enjoyed travel—particularly trips involving bicycles. He and Carrol were known to log 3,000 miles over Wisconsin’s short cycling season. He had encyclopedic knowledge of jazz, and for about a year did a weekly overnight radio show for WYMS, the Milwaukee Public Schools FM station.His passion for the Chicago Cubs was the dismay of his grandson. Howard also rooted for the Bears, although he warmed to the Green Bay Packers in his later years.

Howard is survived by his wife, Carrol; two daughters, Barbara (Scott Fink) of Middleton, and Linda (William Lawrence) of Catonsville, Md.; and four grandchildren, Amy (Abby) Board of Chicago, Matt Fibich of Wauwatosa, Abby Fink of Minneapolis, and Katie Fink of Montreal, Quebec. His beloved son Steve preceded him in death, lost to cancer in 1995. As Howard wished, no funeral service will be held, and his remains will be cremated. Memorial contributions may be made to The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

https://wnanews.com/2020/03/05/howard-fibich-milwaukee-journal-obituary/

John R. Bell, frequent contributor to national financial and real estate magazines, died on January 27, 2020. He was 89.

Born in Hammond, Ind., Bell moved to Chicago as a teenager and lived there for the rest of his life. He wrote the John Carmichael Texaco Sports Final for CBS Radio, and went on to publicize peacetime atomic energy R&D as a member of the first public information staff at Argonne National Laboratory.

While at Argonne, he initiated coverage of the work that Argonne was doing by contacting CBS journalist Charles Collingwood. This resulted in a one-hour program produced and broadcast nationally on CBS.

Bell also worked in corporate PR positions at J. Walter Thompson, General Motors, Montgomery Ward and H. Rozoff and Associates. He added real estate and financial writing to his portfolio when H. Rozoff and Associates obtained a number of real estate and financial accounts.

After he retired, he was a frequent contributor to Mortgage Banking, the official magazine of the Mortgage Banking Association, until it ceased publication in 2016.

His articles for Mortgage Banking included coverage of the growth and recovery of the national office market; profile of Wrightwood Capital, the Chicago-based commercial/real estate finance firm; the growth of mixed use developments; the development of business/industrial parks; the nation’s Downtowns going green; multifamily apartment markets; five-star hotel markets; industrial recovery; the move to Downtowns; and economic growth in gateway cities.

He wrote cover stories for the National Real Estate Investor and his cover story profiles of Chrysler’s CEO Robert Eaton and Wilson Sporting Goods executive Jim Bough appeared in Industry Week (IW).

He was also a contributor to Pension Management, the Journal of Property Management (JPM), Progressive Railroading, Flying Careers, Air Cargo World, and Cahners Assembly Magazine.

Bell enjoyed music, the theater, and raising English Bulldogs—and said he had created the world’s finest barbecue sauce.

He and his wife, Virginia, celebrated their 68th Wedding Anniversary Sept. 8, 2019. They have two daughters, Monica (John) Muhs and Vanessa (Leon) LaSota; three grand-daughters, Dr. Amanda (Alex) Saratsis, Sara Muhs, and Leigh (AJ) Grimberg; and two great-grandchildren, Beckett and Eva Saratsis.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?n=john-r-bell&pid=195132717&fhid=2060