Dennis Losness, a lifelong newspaperman and former publisher of the Cornell Courier, died Dec. 16 in Hudson after a battle with cancer. He was 85.
Dennis began his newspaper career as a freshman in high school at the Amery Free Press, learning to set movable type and gaining essential journalistic skills. He went on to serve as a sports writer, sports editor and editor of the Free Press.
In 1958, he became editor and publisher of the Cornell Courier, a weekly paper he co-owned with Palmer Sondreal. Following five years in Cornell, he began his daily newspaper career at the Duluth Herald and News-Tribune, where he worked as a reporter and copy editor.
He worked for the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minn., for the next 20 years. He had several editing positions in St. Paul, including wire editor, assistant city editor, copy desk chief and assistant managing editor. He ended work there as the last managing editor of the evening Dispatch. He also served as assistant director of Ridder News Service for two years.
After his time in St. Paul, he worked as a copy editor at the Wausau Daily Herald and the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison. He retired in 1996 and returned to his hometown of Amery.
He is survived by seven children, Jon (Susan) Losness, Rochester, Minn.; Julie (Kevin) Prax, Cottage Grove, Minn.; Ann (Jim) Hogan, Plymouth, Iowa; Paula (Dan) McDonald, Hudson, Wis.; Peter, Denver; Katie (Evan) Larson, Austin, Minn.; and Tom (Mary) Losness, Maplewood, Minn; 20 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Sandra, who died June 13. They had been married 59 years.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 21, at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 1050 Keller Ave. N., Amery. Visitation will be held one hour prior to funeral services.
