In Memoriam

Brooks Johnson, a publisher in the 1980s of The Sun in San Bernardino and later was a Gannett regional executive, died May 1, 2018, at his home in Paradise Valley, Ariz., the Arizona Republic reported. He was 70. Johnson, who joined Gannett in 1977 as an advertising director in Indiana, served at newspapers in Illinois…

Memorial plans are pending for Newton Wallace, 1964 CNPA president and former publisher of the Winters Express, who died April 1, 2018, at his home in Winters, The Express reports. He was 98. Wallace was publisher in Winters from 1947 to 1983 and was publisher emeritus and “The World’s Oldest Paper Boy” until recently. “Although…

Lita Reid, former managing editor of the Daily Independent in Ridgecrest, died March 4, 2018, in Sacramento, the newspaper reported. She was 87 and had Parkinson’s disease. Reid began in 1972 as a part-time reporter and worked as a reporter before eventually becoming managing editor. She left the paper in 1986.

A celebration of life event for 1996 CNPA President Roy Herburger will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 24 at Roy Herburger Elementary School, 8670 Maranello Drive, Elk Grove, 95624. Herburger, former publisher of the Elk Grove Citizen and the Galt Herald, died March 4 at age 87.

Roy Herburger, 1996 CNPA president and former publisher newspapers in Elk Grove and Galt, died March 4, 2018, at his Elk Grove home, the Elk Grove Citizen reports. he was 87 and had Parkinson’s disease. Herburger and his first wife Mary acquired the Elk Grove Citizen and Galt Herald in 1959. He also was CEO…

Judson Snyder, former editor of the Community Voice in Rohnert Park, Sonoma County, died March 3, 2018, in Santa Rosa, The Press Democrat reports. He was 92. Snyder continued to write a local column, “Coffeegrounds,” until the final week of his life. Irene Hilsendager, an editor and writer for the Community Voice, said the paper…

William D. “Bill” Rich, a former publisher at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, died Feb. 17, 2018, of lung and heart failure at an assisted living center in Moreno Valley, the newspaper reported. He was 89. Rich began with The P-E as a substitute newspaper carrier in 1941 and continued with the company as a circulation…

Jack Robinson, former editor of the Sacramento Business Journal, died Jan. 1, 2018, from a brain tumor, the newspaper reported. He was 61. Robinson was that newspaper’s editor from 2011 to 2016 before moving to Pennsylvania. Previously, he was managing editor at The Fresno Bee and had served at the Los Angeles Times and The…

Karen Wittmer Jekel, a former publisher in Costa Mesa and Salinas, died Dec. 2, 2017, at home in Arizona after a fight with cancer, the Los Angeles Times reports. She was 65. Jekel was publisher of the Daily Pilot in Costa Mesa from 1985 to 1987 and then was publisher of The Salinas Californian. “She…

Lisa Cosenza, a former advertising executive at Times Community News in Orange County, died Oct. 12, 2017, in a shooting in Mission Viejo, the Los Angeles Times reported. She was 51. Cosenza was a member of Times Community News’ Orange County operations team from 1996 to 2013. “I think we had a special team at…