Leonard Wagner, a longtime writer and editor for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, died Tuesday, Oct. 10, at the Country Villas Assisted Living Facility in Omro.
Born on Christmas morning 1936 to Mary and “Pat” (Wilmar) Wagnerm, he grew up in Theresa and developed an attachment to sports and writing in 1946, at the age of 10 after coming across a Life magazine with a cover photo of future Hall of Famer Ted Williams. He began reading every baseball magazine he could find and writing stories about games after listening to them on the radio.
Wagner earned a degree in history in 1958 from St. Norbert College. In college, he played baseball, wrote for the St. Norbert Times student newspaper and served as an assistant in the college news bureau.
After graduating, he began working for the Press-Gazette and its radio station WJPG, where he continued on part-time after being named director of news services at St. Norbert in 1959. In 1961, Wagner joined the Press-Gazette as a full-time sports writer and in 1968, he was named sports editor. He also served as news editor, features editor and columnist over the years. He remained with the newspaper for more than 30 years, retiring in 1992.
