Retired Milwaukee Journal Sentinel president and publisher Elizabeth “Betsy” Brenner died on Jan. 23, 2026 at age 71.
A column and a news story in the newspaper and on jsonline.com recounted her life. According to the story and column:
Elizabeth Frances Brenner was born in October 1954 to Judith Hiller, an unmarried woman who had graduated that spring from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hiller’s parents had arranged for her to spend the summer in rural Washington to avoid the scandal a pregnancy would have caused at the time. The birth took place in Seattle.
Betsy grew up with her brother, Alan, working in the family business, surrounded by relatives. Brenner Brothers Bakery was a mainstay in northwestern Washington, first in Seattle and then suburban Bellevue.
After high school, Betsy headed to Northwestern University, where she earned a bachelor’s in journalism in 1976 and a master’s in business administration in 1978.
From there, she climbed the newspaper ladder: business reporter at the Chicago Tribune; marketing manager at The New York Times; marketing, circulation and advertising positions at the Miami Herald; publisher of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver; and president and publisher at the Bremerton Sun and Tacoma News Tribune in Washington.
Betsy joined the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in January 2005. During her nearly 12 years as publisher, the newspaper won its Pulitzers and numerous national journalism awards, and made advances in printing, marketing, and online presentation. She represented the Journal Sentinel on the national boards of the Newspaper Association of America and the Associated Press.
In addition to being passionate about Milwaukee, Brenner was passionate about elevating journalism, advancing health care, protecting democracy, lowering teen pregnancy rates, meeting friends from dorm days, supporting those with breast cancer and connecting other women leaders.
“Betsy Brenner was a powerful force for good journalism and good in this community,” wrote Greg Borowski, executive editor of the Journal Sentinel, and a board member of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. “As publisher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, she fought passionately for those of us in the newsroom and was, every day, an example of the grit and optimism she expected from her team.”
During her tenure, the Journal Sentinel won three Pulitzer Prizes, and retained the nation’s highest percentage of local household newspaper readership among large markets.
“I admired her integrity, and her passion for the kind of journalism that makes a difference in the community,” said Marty Kaiser, who worked as Journal Sentinel editor from 1997 to 2015. “You don’t produce journalism that receives local and national recognition without a publisher who cares about the success of the newsroom. She was a smart and thoughtful partner.”
“Betsy was something else. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, Betsy, who was new to the paper, invited me for a beer across the street from the newsroom,” recalled former Journal Sentinel reporter Meg Kissinger, who is the author of the bestseller While You Were Out. “I didn’t know that she had finished her chemo and radiation treatments not longer before. She whipped out her driver’s license with a picture of her bald head, took my hand, and said, ‘You have one job: Fight this’.”
WNA Past President, Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Famer and retired Journal Sentinel editor George Stanley also shared a Betsy cancer memory.
“Betsy fought cancer with incredible spirit and optimism. Whenever it returned, she went through every available new treatment, offering herself as a way to advance medical knowledge and help others in the future. She always chose to remain positive and continued giving and giving to causes she believed in,” Stanley recalled. “She’s an inspiration to all of us.”
Mary Lou Young remembered that Betsy co-chaired Teen Pregnancy Prevention efforts at United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County for over a decade.
“Under her leadership, the teen birth rate for 15-17 year olds declined by 65% between 2006 and 2016,” said Young, who is the retired president and CEO for United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County. “Betsy was a role model for me and my entire staff at United Way. She exhibited thoughtful, gracious professionalism during every interaction. We were truly blessed to have her generous volunteer leadership for so many years. She will be deeply missed, but forever remembered.”
Betsy’s civic legacy includes chairing the board of the Medical College of Wisconsin and serving with the Greater Milwaukee Committee; ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis; Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin; Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee; Children’s Wisconsin; and Milwaukee Film. She was an honorary chair of the Susan G. Komen Walk for Breast Cancer in addition to her work with the local United Way’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative.
Former Milwaukee Sentinel reporter and editor H. Carl Mueller also remembered that when he first joined the Sentinel, Betsy had a major issue to resolve that had been facing the company for several years.
“It was resolved in the best way possible. I learned from that experience how much of a business person she was, but also this really warm human being who could work with a great diversity of people to get them to work together, to find resolution to issues, not to make them worse,” wrote Mueller, who is the founder and chair of Mueller Communications Inc. “I think everybody whose lives she touched really appreciated her caring, kindness and leadership. She was always a leader wherever she went.”
Betsy died at home in Arizona with her husband Jon Brakke, Gabriela Garcia, Rebecca Garcia Theou, and her half-sister Darlene Fague at her bedside.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
