Karen Jekel
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 was instrumental in upgrading the [Pilot] and making it a respected voice for the South Coast region of Orange County,” said Bob Heber, a Pilot account executive and assistant advertising manager in the 1980s.
Jekel retired in 2007 after serving as publisher for 10 years of the East Valley Tribune in Tempe, Ariz.
