Charles “Chuck” Gauger, who retired in 2019 after a 43-year newspaper career, began working alongside his father, who owned the Whitehall Times as a child and, later, during summers while attending UW-Stevens Point.
He joined the staff full time in 1975 as an advertising salesman. In 1984, he became general manager and, four years later, he was named publisher of the newspaper.
Gauger purchased the Independence News-Wave in 2002 and merged it with the Times.
In September 2010, Gauger sold the Whitehall Times to the Black Earth, Wis.-based News Publishing Company. He remained with the newspaper as general manager and oversaw the merger of the Times, the Arcadia News-Leader and the Galesville Republican into one paper, the Trempealeau County Times.
Gauger continued to serve as the general manager until his retirement in 2019. His retirement marked the end of 80 years of Gauger family newspaper ownership.
