Decades after Marie Jacque Schanen and her husband published the first issue of Ozaukee Press on Aug. 15, 1940, the newspaper continues to thrive as an independent, family-owned weekly, now managed by members of two generations of the family.
Schanen died Aug. 7, 2008, at the age of 94. Born on a farm at the edge of Port Washington, she attended Port Washington High School, where she met William F. Schanen Jr., whom she would one day marry and in 1940 join in the risky adventure of starting a newspaper that pioneered the printing method that today is used for virtually all newspapers.
Bill Schanen Jr.’s idea was to produce a tabloid weekly newspaper using photo-offset printing that provided clear reproduction of large photographs, something that was impossible with the traditional letterpress equipment used by other newspapers. Marie Schanen worked beside her husband in the hands-on business of putting out the newspaper, doing everything from writing news stories to folding and inserting pages of the newspaper that were printed two at a time on a tiny press.
The Press went on to become one of the state’s largest circulation weekly newspapers and has been honored a number of times as Wisconsin community newspaper of the year in recognition of journalistic excellence.
After her husband died in 1971, the same year her daughter Maureen died as well, Marie gave more of her time to the newspaper, where she wrote the popular column titled “I See by Marie” and other features, and to her then-grown children and their families.
She is survived by a son, Bill Schanen III of Port Washington, current publisher of the Press, and three daughters.
