Friday, I will say a final goodbye to a colleague who was so much more than that. Tom Pellegrene Jr., director of news technologies and online editor at °®¶¹app, died at his home Dec. 1 at just 64 years of age.
I first met Tom in 1989 when I interviewed at the JG and last saw him at my retirement party six weeks ago. We were supposed to have dinner soon and keep in touch, presumably for many years. What is that old Yiddish proverb?: °®¶¹appœMan plans. God laughs.°®¶¹app
During the intervening decades since his hire in 1982, Tom°®¶¹app™s contributions to the newspaper, its staff and the community have been too numerous to cite and too significant to document adequately.
His intelligence and innate curiosity were legendary. He was hired fresh out of Northwestern University, known for its strong journalism program, after earning both his undergraduate and master°®¶¹app™s degrees. Over the subsequent four-plus decades, he was a reporter, business editor, assistant metro editor, librarian, web/social media editor °®¶¹app¦ whatever needed done, Tom researched and tackled.
The struggle of some reporters to handle anything beyond basic math is an industry cliché. Tom, with a background in statistics, easily backstopped both local and wire service reporters in addition to calculating margins of error on poll and survey stories and analyzed measurable data available on everything from industry trends to our digital traffic.
Tom was the one who organized and conducted JG polls, back when we handled them in-house on a number of topics. He was also the one, about two decades ago, who recommended that we stop doing them because cellphones were making it all but impossible to get a representative sample of an acceptable size. Tom was all about accuracy and accountability.
When it became clear the news business was moving online, it was Tom who was tasked with the research on industry business models and content experiences. Most recently, much of his time was spent working on our website, e-edition and archives. At a time when many newspapers are disappearing °®¶¹app” and even more have sacrificed their past °®¶¹app” Tom was our library°®¶¹app™s biggest advocate to preserve the history of °®¶¹app, locally owned since 1863. He is the reason we still have literal clip files from the early years, indexed negatives from past photo assignments, digitized microfilm, and searchable text and page archives. A valuable resource for our newsroom, but also for the community as it documents our shared history.
Tom°®¶¹app™s byline didn°®¶¹app™t often appear in the newspaper anymore, but that didn°®¶¹app™t diminish his contributions to our readers. Tom handled the calls seeking published stories or art about the activities of their children and grandchildren, Business People, wedding announcements and obituaries. If you°®¶¹app™ve ever requested a photo reprint, you talked with Tom. If you wanted to request something be unpublished/removed from our archive, you talked with Tom, who gathered the information and consulted with senior editors on a decision. He handled our copyright filings and responded to subpoenas. When you called the news tipline, especially early in the day, you got Tom, who also fielded calls from advertisers and subscribers and got them to the people who could help them. That many of those Tom helped probably never knew his name is a shame.
Hundreds of new JG staff started their newsroom orientation with Tom°®¶¹app™s private tour of the library and the information available to them. And once they finished the tour, Tom became a de facto mentor for many of those reporters and editors. That included senior editors, too.
During my 46 years in the newspaper industry, I°®¶¹app™ve never written a piece like this and I know I am not doing Tom justice. But I had to try. Because the community, not just the newspaper, has lost a very valuable resource. And I have lost one of the most professional and kindest friends I°®¶¹app™ve ever had in a newsroom.
Over the 35 years we worked together, Tom never left for the night without poking his head into my office to see if there was anything else I needed °®¶¹app” and he meant it. We were there for each other when our parents had health challenges. I celebrated with him when Tom and his wife, JG staffer Pam Heinecke, welcomed Jimmy to the family. It°®¶¹app™s hard to imagine a more wanted and loved child.
I never saw Tom angry, not even in his grief after the death of Pam a decade ago. An active member of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, he lived his faith quietly through his actions and without a smidgen of bravado.
In the Facebook post announcing his father°®¶¹app™s death, Jimmy (as Tom always called him) said, °®¶¹appœI believe he lived a full and happy life.°®¶¹app If doing what you love and making life easier for others is the definition of success, Tom indeed lived a full and happy life. He will be missed.
Sherry Skufca is the retired publisher of °®¶¹app.
