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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. 

Michele Mathews Leber, who started her career at The Post-Crescent in Appleton, died Friday, Jan. 1, at her home in Arlington, Va. She was 82.

An Appleton native, Leber attended Northwestern University, where she served as feature editor of The Daily Northwestern student newspaper. After college, she began her professional journalism career in Appleton. She later earned her master's degree in library science and worked as branch manager for several libraries in Fairfax County, Va.

Merlyn "Bud" Lea, who for more than 55 years covered the Green Bay Packers for the Milwaukee Sentinel and Packer Plus, died Wednesday, Jan. 20. He was 92.

Lea attended UW-Madison, where he worked as sports editor for The Daily Cardinal student newspaper, before going on to work at the Post-Bulletin in Rochester, Minn., and, in 1953, the Milwaukee Sentinel, where he met his wife, Filomena Volpintesta. After serving as the Packers beat writer for nearly two decades, he was named the newspaper's sports editor in 1972. He went on to write Packers columns more than a decade after retiring from his full-time role in 1995.

Thomas R. Torinus, a longtime journalist and former newspaper owner, died Friday, Jan. 8, in Egg Harbor. He was 82.

Following his graduation in 1960 from Dartmouth College, Torinus worked as assistant to the general manager of the New York Daily News. He later returned to his home state to work for the (Appleton) Post-Crescent, where his father, John Torinus, was editor. He and his two brothers later bought the Herald-Leader in Menominee, Mich., where Torinus served as editor for six years until it was sold in 1982.

Dr. Orville A. “Orv” Langhough, who for more than three decades served as a sportswriter for The Chetek Alert, died Saturday, Jan. 2, in Eau Claire. He was 92.

Beginning in the 1960s, Langhough covered high school football and basketball for The Alert. He continued in the role for more than 30 years until he retired in 2000.

Merle J. Hill, who worked nearly four decades in the La Crosse Tribune newsroom, died Saturday, Dec. 26, at Tomah Memorial Hospital. He was 102.

In 1946, after settling in La Crosse with his wife following service in World War II, Hill took a job as a reporter for the Tribune. After two years as a reporter, he became the newspaper’s wire editor, a role he held for the next 35 years.