Richard “Dick” Emerson, whose Wisconsin newspaper publishing career spanned 30 years, was born on July 28, 1940, in Madison, to Earl and Alice Emerson. His parents owned the DeForest Times-Tribune, and when he was a child, his family lived in the flat above the office.
Dick began his newspaper career in elementary school, going to various houses around town and collecting information about visits and other local news items. In high school, he reported on school activities and sports for the paper. After high school, he enrolled at Madison Area Technical College, where he studied for a semester before being offered a job at Madison Newspapers. He worked there for nine years, helping out at the Times-Tribune on his days off.
The couple moved to DeForest in 1965 and, in 1968, purchased the Times-Tribune from his parents. In 1986, they bought the Poynette Press and added it to the DeForest Times Publishing Co., which also included the Prairie Valley Shopper. After selling the newspapers to Art Drake in 1998, Dick continued to sell advertising and write his column “D NEWS.”
Dick died on Dec. 2, 2022, at the age of 82. He was preceded in death by his wife of 53 years, Mollyann, who is enshrined on the WNA’s Memorial Pylon. He was survived by two sons, Scott and James.
