Sam Martino, longtime journalist and educator, dies at 85
Sam Martino, 85, died on Saturday, April 20, from a heart attack while mowing his lawn in DeForest, Wisconsin. His career as a journalist and journalism educator spanned more than 60 years.
Martino began his reporting career in high school and later received a scholarship to attend Michigan State University, where he studied journalism and was state editor for the Lansing State Journal. Following completion of his journalism degree in 1962, he continued the work he began in college with the Associated Press and United Press International (UPI) spanning 10 years as a contributing writer to the Washington Post, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and The Capital Times.
He retired from the Milwaukee Journal in 2000, after 27 years of investigative reporting before joining the teaching staff at UW-Whitewater, where, for 12 years, he inspired future journalists and acted as advisor to the student newspaper. Most recently, he served as a regular contributor to the Edgerton Reporter.