William T. Burgess, who served as the publisher of the La Crosse Tribune for 33 years, died Feb. 4, 2002, at age 94.
Born March 14, 1907, in La Crosse, Burgess was the son of May Thomas and Frank H. Burgess (former publisher of the La Crosse Tribune). After attending local schools and graduating from UW-Madison in 1929, he started in the Tribune’s advertising department.
Burgess married the former Margaret Solveig Forseth in La Crosse on Nov. 21, 1930, and was named head of the advertising department in January 1937 and business manager six months later. After the 1939 death of his father, who had been business manager since Lee Enterprises bought the newspaper in 1907 and publisher since 1918, Burgess was named publisher.
He retired in 1972, having served for 22 of his 33 years of publishing as a secretary and director of Lee Enterprises. Burgess helped the Tribune grow in circulation from about 12,000 during the 1930s to more than 35,000. Also during that time, he served as a director of both WNA and the La Crosse Chamber of Commerce and as president of the La Crosse Industrial Association.
