Mary Jane Spletter, who started her writing career as a reporter for the Milwaukee Sentinel, died Thursday, May 6, at her home in Oakland, Calif. She was 74.
Born Nov. 28, 1946, in Appleton, she was the daughter of Mary Elizabeth (Kelly) Spletter and Norman Julius Spletter. She graduated in 1965 from Appleton’s Xavier High School, where she served as editor of her high school newspaper.
- RELATED: Joseph Fumo, former reporter and technical writer, dies at 66
- RELATED: Former Milwaukee Press Club president Van Dyke dies at 93
Spletter went on to study journalism at UW-Madison, where she was president of the Coranto Sigma Iota professional journalism sorority. While in college, she met her future husband of 48 years, Jeff Robbins.
After graduating in 1969, Spletter took on a reporter role at the Milwaukee Sentinel. Spletter and Robbins in 1973 moved to Berkeley, Calif., where she went on to a long career in public information and technical writing. She wrote for many institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley, the UC San Francisco Medical Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the UC Office of the President.
Those wishing to honor Spletter are asked to make donations in her name to research on Parkinson’s disease.
