MILWAUKEE — Longtime columnist Jim Stingl, business writer Rick Romell and environmental reporter Lee Bergquist are among eight veteran journalists retiring from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Stingl announced his retirement in a farewell column Friday, while noting other retirees including business writer Paul Gores; general assignment reporter Jesse Garza; Ideas Lab reporter John Schmid; food, home and gardening editor Nancy Stohs; and night news editor Bob Friday. Exact retirement dates were not provided.
After spending three years as an auto mechanic, Stingl started his journalism career with the Beloit Daily News. He also spent time with the Green Bay Press-Gazette before joining The Milwaukee Journal as a reporter in February 1987. Twelve years later he became a local columnist for the Journal Sentinel, a job he remained in for 20 years until his retirement.
Romell, who earned his bachelor’s degree from UW-Milwaukee and master’s from Northwestern University, spent more than 44 years with the newspaper. He was a major contributor to a team that was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2003 for coverage of chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin’s deer herd.
Bergquist, who as of Wednesday was still reporting, joined the newspaper in 1983 and has covered the environment, conservation, land use and related regulatory issues since 2002. He also was part of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize finalist team.
Gores, who graduated from UW-Madison, has covered business news for the Journal Sentinel since 2000. Garza wrote about ethnic communities and other topics for the newspaper.
Friday, another UW-Madison graduate, spent more than 40 years with the newspaper.
Schmid, who graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, has covered globalization and economic disruption for the Journal Sentinel since 2003.
Stohs, a Nebraska native, started her journalism career at the Lakeland (Fla.) Ledger after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She joined The Journal in April 1979 and has held a number of reporting and editing positions with the newspaper over the last 40 years. Stohs’ farewell column was published Tuesday.
