EAU CLAIRE — After spending more than four decades with his hometown newspaper, photographer Steve Kinderman is retiring this week from the Leader-Telegram.
The Eau Claire newspaper announced Kinderman’s retirement in a story published in Tuesday’s print edition. Kinderman previously stepped down from full-time work in 2016, and is now moving to full retirement at the end of this week.
A lifelong Eau Claire resident, Kinderman graduated from Eau Claire Memorial High School before earning his journalism degree from UW-Eau Claire in 1976. Kinderman met his wife, Wendy, while taking a summer photography class in college. Now married for 43 years, the couple has two daughters and two grandchildren.
His career began as a reporter and copy editor at the Leader-Telegram. Steve and Wendy also were two of the three members of the original editorial staff of The Country Today weekly newspaper, which covers statewide rural news. Wendy Kinderman spent 25 years with the company before taking a marketing position with a local engineering firm.
In 1984, Steve Kinderman was named photo director for the Leader-Telegram, a position he held until 2016. He guided the photo staff through a number of major changes, including the switches from mostly black-and-white photos to color and from film to digital.
