Retired La Crosse Tribune publisher Rusty Cunningham and former Wisconsin newspaper executive Gary Gaier will join former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editor and current Wisconsin Watch chief executive officer George Stanley as 2024 inductees into the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame.
All three will be inducted during a ceremony hosted by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 at The Madison Club, located at 5 E. Wilson St. in downtown Madison. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a cocktail hour, followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m.
Register or be a sponsor for the event through Oct. 24.
After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Cunningham started his career with newspapers in Binghamton, N.Y., and Omaha, Neb., before joining Lee Enterprises in March 1979 at the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa.
In August 1997, Cunningham became editor of the La Crosse Tribune. He was named publisher of the Capital Newspapers-Portage division in 2002 and returned to La Crosse as publisher of the Tribune in 2004. He moved back to the editor’s position in 2015 and remained in the role until his retirement in 2020.
Under Cunningham’s leadership, the Tribune earned several WNA Better Newspaper Contest awards, including several for General Excellence. The River Valley Newspaper Group, which includes the Tribune, also was awarded the 2011 Enterprise of the Year Award by Lee Enterprises.
Beginning his newspaper career as the advertising director at the Chippewa (Falls) Herald Telegram, Gaier quickly rose to the position of general manager. Around that time, Gaier installed one of the first offset presses in Wisconsin, the press that printed publications including the first version of the Menards advertising flyer.
Later, Gaier served as group manager for Lavine Newspaper Group, overseeing a several Wisconsin dailies, including the Portage Daily Register, Baraboo News Republic and Shawano Leader. Gaier subsequently founded a consulting company, Profit Plus, which worked with newspapers in the Midwest and Alaska. A mentor to many in the industry, Gaier was named Wisconsin Newspaper Association Publisher of the Year in 1988.
Following a lengthy career, Gaier died Jan. 3, 2015, at the age of 77, survived by his wife, Judy, five children and 10 grandchildren.
Stanley was named editor of the Journal Sentinel in 2015 after leading the newsroom as managing editor for 18 years. Stanley is a native of Laredo, Texas, where his father flew fighter jets in the U.S. Air Force. After his time in the service, his father’s work in the paper industry brought the family to Green Bay.
Stanley’s interest in journalism grew after he won an Associated Press sports writing contest at Abbot Pennings High School in De Pere. He went on to study journalism at UW-Madison and began his career at the Lake Geneva Regional News, Ducks Unlimited magazine and the Wichita (Kansas) Eagle.
In 1989, Stanley returned to Wisconsin as a state reporter for the Milwaukee Sentinel. He became the business editor of the Sentinel in 1993 and took over the same position when the Sentinel and Milwaukee Journal merged in 1995. He became managing editor of the Journal Sentinel two years later and became editor in 2015. He stepped down from that post in 2022 but served as WNA president in 2023, then became the CEO of Wisconsin Watch later the same year.
About the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame
Created in 2001 to honor visionaries and innovators in the Wisconsin newspaper industry, the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame has recognized 69 individuals with induction.
Hall of Fame nominations are open to anyone, living or deceased, who has contributed above and beyond the call of duty to newspapers and newspapering in Wisconsin. This includes publishers, editors, reporters, photographers or any other newspaper personnel with significant contributions to the newspaper industry.
Inductees have dedicated at least 15 years of service to newspapering.
