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Former Marshfield News-Herald editor and publisher William “Bill” Heath, 85, of Marshfield, died on May 5, after a battle with heart disease.

After earning a degree in journalism from UW-Madison in 1960, he started his career as a reporter and photographer for the Beloit Daily News, where he was promoted to city editor and, later, to assistant managing editor. In 1971, he and his family moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he worked as an editor and reporter for the Arizona Daily Sun. In 1976, the family returned in Wisconsin, and Heath joined the Marshfield News-Herald — first as editor and, later, as editor and publisher. He retired in 2001. 

Janet R. Carl, 63, died unexpectedly on Saturday, May 4, at Grant Regional Health Center in Lancaster.

She graduated from Fennimore High School in 1979 and then attended UW-Platteville, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and journalism. During college, she served as a reporter and editor at The Exponent student newspaper, was an intern at the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, and freelanced for the Dubuque Telegraph Herald and the Milwaukee Journal. During her junior year at UW-Platteville, she was selected for a special student internship at the Wisconsin State Journal. She went on to earn a law degree from the University of Texas-Austin, and worked as an environmental attorney in Houston, Texas, St. Louis, and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Dorothy (Browne) Haines, 98, of Madison, died on April 22. She graduated in 1939 from Madison East High School before going on to attend UW-Madison, where she earned a degree in journalism and became the first female editor of The Daily Cardinal student newspaper.

She later went to work for her father’s East Side Print Shop, which also published the "East Side News," of which she served as editor. She would go on to become vice president of the business. Her love of history and journalism culminated with the writing of "Monona in the Making," published in 1999, for which she was awarded the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Local History Award of Merit.

Longtime Sheboygan Press community editor Mary Louise Eckardt, 74, of Eau Claire, died on May 12.

After graduating from North High School in Sheboygan, where she served as editor of the school's yearbook, she went on to earn a degree in journalism from UW-Madison in 1972, before joining the Merrill Daily Herald as a reporter. From there, she worked at the (Rochester, Minn.) Post-Bulletin and, by 1976, she'd returned to her hometown to work at the Sheboygan Press as community editor — a role she held for the next 30 years.

Richard “Dick” A. Nelson, a longtime journalism educator, 85, died on Jan. 23.

Nelson earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northern Illinois University. In 1976, he earned a PhD in educational administration with a focus in journalism from UW-Madison. He taught high school journalism and English in Belvidere and Arlington Heights, Illinois, before serving as the head of the journalism department at UW-Whitewater. Fifty years ago, he founded the Kettle Moraine Press Association for Wisconsin high school newspaper and yearbook advisers.

Former Milwaukee journalist Mary Joanne Scheffel, 89, of Cedarburg, died on Sunday, April 28.

She graduated as valedictorian in 1953 from Oconto Falls High School, where she served as editor of the school newspaper. After earning her journalism degree in 1958 from Carroll College in Waukesha, she went on to join the Milwaukee Journal as a receptionist and editorial assistant, eventually becoming an editor of the Neighbors/Lifestyle section until her retirement in 1995. 

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.

Karen K. Parker, 77, founder of the (Ontario) County Line, died on Monday, April 1, at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse.

She started the County Line in November 1983. The newspaper initially covered Ontario and Norwalk, later expanding to Kendall and Wilton. Parker, who was known for her weekly Backtalk columns, served as publisher and later publisher emeritus for 40 years. She was active in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and served on the WNA Foundation Board of Directors from 2005 to 2012. She worked part time up until her death. 

Alan "Al" Craig Dunn, 75, of West Bend, died on March 1, at Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital.

Born on August 31, 1948, in Milwaukee to Lee and Sylvia Dunn (Malak), he graduated from Milwaukee Tech High School in 1966. He went on to serve in the United States Air Force and later earned a bachelor's degree from UW-Milwaukee. Dunn worked for the Milwaukee Sentinel as a reporter, and later for the West Bend Daily News.