William “Bill” Hale, former owner of the Grant County Herald Independent in Lancaster and several other community newspapers, was born Feb. 16, 1942. He came to Wisconsin from Pleasant Hill, Mo., where he ran The Times, which won state and national awards during his tenure.
Bill owned and published the Grant County Herald Independent in Lancaster for 18 years before selling his newspaper group to Morris Newspapers in 2002. At the time of the sale, he also owned The Boscobel Dial, (Gays Mills) Crawford County Independent, Fennimore Times and the Tri-County Press in Cuba City.
Former employees and colleagues remembered Bill as a great publisher, community supporter and friend. These qualities were reflected in an editorial he wrote for his first issue of the Herald Independent. The editorial stated that while a newspaper was a business, it also must earn the public’s trust by providing the news, both good and bad.
Bill died April 1, 2020, in Florida, following a long battle with cancer. He was 78.
