Former Green Bay Press-Gazette government and local news reporter Doug Schneider died Sept. 21 at his home near Binghamton, New York. He was 65.
Schneider worked for the Press-Gazette from 2010 to 2023. A graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, he worked at newspapers in Pennsylvania and New York before coming to Green Bay.
“He’ll be remembered for the good journalism he produced and his presence in the newsroom,” said Peter Frank, Press-Gazette executive editor. “More than once he would come over on deadline, laptop open in one hand, and tell us about a scoop he had that would make us redo the front page.”
Among Schneider’s most consequential reporting was his coverage of the 2018 killing of 7-year-old Ethan Hauschultz. Schneider later revealed that Ethan and his siblings had been placed with foster parent Timothy Hauschultz despite his previous admission in court to child abuse. The reporting helped lead to Ethan’s Law, which prevents courts and human services agencies from placing foster children with people who have certain criminal records involving child abuse.
Schneider also reported extensively on the 2018 police shooting of Jonathan Tubby at the Brown County Jail and joined reporter Haley BeMiller in covering the kidnapping and escape of 13-year-old Jayme Closs.
“We worked closely together on one of the toughest stories I’ve covered, and I learned so much from him,” BeMiller said. “Underneath a sometimes gruff exterior, he really was a teddy bear who cared about his people.”
Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach remembered Schneider as “always fair and seeking out balance,” while also taking time to ask sources how they were doing personally.
Schneider won numerous Wisconsin Newspaper Association reporting awards. He also created the popular Scanner Squawk feature on Twitter, highlighting humorous and unusual police activity involving Packers fans on game days.
An avid reader, Schneider was a devoted fan of the Green Bay Packers, Chicago White Sox, hockey and lacrosse. He also loved cats.
After the deaths of his parents, Schneider returned to New York, which had become home to him.
He is survived by his wife, Terri, whom he met at Syracuse University.
