Longtime LaCrosse Tribune business news reporter, editor and freelancer Steve Cahalan died Monday, Nov. 10, 2025 at age 73.
A story about Cahalan appeared in the Nov. 13, 2025 issue of the Tribune. According to the story:
Cahalan served as a news reporter in several Midwest locations for almost 50 years, but he was best known for his business column in the La Crosse Tribune that he wrote almost every week.
Born in Mason City, Iowa, Cahalan started his reporting career at the Clinton Herald, a family-owned paper in eastern Iowa. He applied his family’s farming background to pilot his venture into business reporting at the Decatur Herald & Review in Decatur, Ill.
He reported for the Herald & Review for 15 years, spent three years at the Montana Standard in Butte, Montana, and started at the La Crosse Tribune in 1997.
Cahalan wrote for the Tribune as a reporter and editor until 2011 when he unofficially retired. In 2012, Cahalan returned as a freelance writer producing a weekly business column for the paper, which he continued until his death.
Former and current Tribune colleagues remember Cahalan for his professionalism and friendly demeanor both in and out of the field.
“I had the pleasure of hiring Steve as the business reporter in 1997,” wrote former Tribune editor Chris Hardie, who is also a WNA contributing columnist, in a Facebook post. “Easily one of the best hires I ever made. He was a consummate professional and I was proud to work with him.”
“He cared about getting the news, breaking the story, making sure it was right and accurate and fair. He built relationships among the business community that were second to none, and he did that at every paper he worked at,” said former La Crosse Tribune publisher Rusty Cunningham, a WNA Foundation board member and a 2024 Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame member.
Cahalan’s daughter plans to complete his final local business column, which was already in the works and is now expected to appear in the Nov. 22, 2025 edition of the Tribune.
“Never heard a bad word about Steve from readers or sources. Not many journalists you can say that about or who would want that said about themselves. But in this rare case, his decency just usually won the day with those who interacted with him,” said Tribune Assistant Editor Allan Swift, who worked with Cahalan over several decades.
Stories or memories about Cahalan and his career can be sent to news@lacrossetribune.com. Formal funeral arrangements are still being planned.
