-30-

Mary Marik, a longtime contributor and former managing editor of the Washington Island Observer, died Monday, Dec. 27, at her home in Chicago. She was 76.

Mary and her husband, Warren, moved to Washington Island in 2008, and were involved for many years with the Observer. Following the 2012 sale of the newspaper to a group of 15 families, she was named managing editor and Warren served on the newspaper's board of directors.

She served in the role for a year before stepping down in 2013, but she continued to contribute to the newspaper and served on its board. The obituary credited her as being "instrumental in developing the Observer into the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and state-recognized official paper it is today."

Patricia "Pat" Kwallek, who served for many years as editor of the Grant County Herald Independent, died last month, the Lancaster newspaper reports. She was 88.

Kwallek started at the Grant County Independent in the 1950s, stayed on through the merger with the Grant County Herald and remained with the newspaper in various roles until her retirement in 1986. During more than 30 years with the Herald Independent, Kwallek served as a reporter, columnist, editor and photographer. She also was a correspondent for The Capital Times in the 1960s and 1970s, writing stories and shooting photos of Lancaster-area news for the Madison newspaper.

Paul Adams Rix, a former state government reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal, died Wednesday, Dec. 15, in Mequon. He was 74.

Rix spent his career as a newspaper and magazine reporter. He joined the State Journal in 1978 as a member of the newspaper's Capitol reporting team. Prior to his time with the Madison newspaper, he worked at the Clintonville Tribune and five years at the Kankakee (Ill.) Daily Journal.

Murray Cohen, who owned the Delphos Herald newspaper group that includes three Wisconsin newspapers, died Tuesday, Dec. 7. He was 92.

In 1962, Cohen purchased his first newspaper, The Delphos Herald, a weekly publication in northwestern Ohio. Over time, he went on to buy more than a dozen weekly newspapers in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. In Wisconsin, Cohen's group owns the Vilas County News-Review in Eagle River, the Waushara Argus in Wautoma and The Three Lakes News.

David M. “Dave” Otto, who spent more than 35 years as a reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, died Friday, Nov. 26, in Green Bay. He was 83.

After earning his bachelor’s degree from Ripon College and a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University, Otto embarked on his newspaper career, joining the Press-Gazette in 1962. He was following in the footsteps of his father, Carl, a newspaperman who worked for the (Wisconsin Rapids) Daily Tribune for 46 years.

Dave started as a courthouse reporter at the Press-Gazette, later moving on to become an outdoors and environmental reporter. He received several state and national honors for his work at the newspaper and, after retiring in 1998, he continued to write his popular weekly column, “Plugs & Slugs.”

Bruce David Johnson, a longtime journalism educator from Lake Geneva, died on Nov. 4, at Geneva Lake Manor. He was 94.

After his second tour of duty in the military, Johnson earned a degree — his second — in English and education from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He went on to teach English and journalism at Badger High School in Lake Geneva, where he served as an adviser to the student newspaper. After 28 years in the position, he retired in 1986. In addition to his teaching role, Johnson was featured as a columnist in newspapers including the Lake Geneva Regional News. He also was an avid reader, photographer and genealogist.

Sandra A. "Sandy" Cota, who spent her career as a newspaper reporter in Iowa and Wisconsin, died Friday, Oct. 8. She was 89.

After graduating from Gillett High School in northeastern Wisconsin, she went on to earn her college degree in journalism. Cota started her career in newspapers with the (Dubuque, Iowa) Telegraph Herald, where she worked as a reporter, before moving on to work in the newsrooms of The (Racine) Journal Times and The Milwaukee Journal.