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Leland “Lee” E. Smits, who worked for more than 30 years in the advertising department at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, died Saturday, March 6. He was 93.

In 1954, Smits joined the advertising sales staff at the Press-Gazette, starting in classifieds and later moving to retail advertising. In 1965, he was named retail advertising manager, and he was named assistant advertising director in 1971.

Smits also served as president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Advertising Executives Association and was a member of the International Newspaper Advertising and Marketing Executives Association.

Geraldine “Gerry” Mueller, who worked in the Fond du Lac area as a newspaper reporter and writer, died Friday, March 5. She was 82.

A Milwaukee native, Mueller graduated from the city’s Rufus King High School. During her career, she worked for The (Fond du Lac) Reporter and Kewaskum Statesman.

Andrew “Andy” Thompson, who worked nearly 40 years for The (Appleton) Post-Crescent, died Monday, March 8, at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa. He was 63 and had been undergoing treatment at the hospital for longstanding health issues.

A Clintonville native, Thompson started his journalism career in high school, writing a weekly sports column for the Clintonville Tribune-Gazette. He earned a journalism degree from Marquette University in 1980 and went on to work for the Marinette Eagle-Star and Oshkosh Daily Northwestern before joining The Post-Crescent in 1981.

Lowell Georgia, an award-winning newspaper photographer, died Wednesday, Feb. 24, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette, Colo. He was 87.

A Green Bay native, started his photography career at the Green Bay Press-Gazette in 1949, while still in high school. He also met his future wife, Mary Kay Donovan, while working at the newspaper.

During his time at the Press-Gazette, Georgia was named Wisconsin Press Photographer of the Year and was honored by the Inland Newspaper Association. In 1960, he left for the Denver Post. In 1963, he was named photographer of the year by the National Press Photographers Association.

James Robert Hanson, who sold advertising for several Madison-area newspapers, died Friday, Feb. 12, at his home in Middleton. He was 86.

Hanson graduated from UW-Madison, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism and met his future wife, Myrna. The couple settled in the Madison area, where Hanson went on to sell ads for the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times and the Middleton Times-Tribune, among others.

Dean Norman Jensen, who served as the Milwaukee Sentinel art critic and later opened his own gallery, died Wednesday, Feb. 17, in Milwaukee. He was 82.

Jensen started his journalism career with newspapers in Manitowoc and Sheboygan before joining the Sentinel news staff in 1967. He started as a general assignment reporter and eventually became the newspaper’s art critic.

In 1987, Jensen left the Sentinel to open the Dean Jensen Gallery in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. The art gallery, which later moved to Water Street in downtown Milwaukee, had a nearly 30-year run before closing in 2016.

Mary Therese McLoone, who co-founded Lake Country Publications with her husband Jim McLoone, died Thursday, Feb. 4, at her home. She was 91.

The couple bought their first newspaper in Stewartville, Minn., and in 1960 relocated to Hartland, Wis., where they founded the Lake Country Reporter and its parent company, Lake Country Publications. The company went on to include four weeklies, one semi-monthly and two shoppers before they sold it in 1990. 

Their son, John McLoone, publishes the Pierce County Journal in Prescott and the Stanley Republican.

Mary Ann (Pesch) Gardon, longtime editor and publisher of Peshtigo Times, died Monday, Feb. 1, in Peshtigo. She was 92.

A lifelong Peshtigo resident,
Gardon started working at the Times at age nine and began helping with the bookkeeping at age 14.
She continued working at the newspaper until after her 90th birthday. Following her father’s death in 1981, Gardon served as editor and publisher until her retirement.

Her brother, “Lucky Leo” Pesch, Jr., was a sports pages legend at the newspaper and is a member of the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame.

Lee A. Fensin, who spent his entire journalism career on the Waukesha Freeman sports staff, died Wednesday, Jan. 27, following complications from a stroke. He was 76.

Fensin spent 48 years with the Freeman. As the longtime sports editor, Fensin “was an institution at the Freeman and in the community,” publisher Bill Yorth said in Fensin’s obituary.

Robert “Bob” Heffner, who worked more than three decades for The (Rice Lake) Chronotype died Saturday, Jan. 23, in Rice Lake. He was 89.

A Barron County native, Heffner began his career in newspapers while in high school, working as a printer’s devil and later a printer and pressman at the Barron News-Shield, where he remained until 1951, when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After returning to the News-Shield for a few years, he took a reporting job with The Chronotype in 1960 and remained with the newspaper until his retirement in 1993. During his 33 years there, he held a number of roles, including sports editor, news editor and editor.