Kenneth Adams, Ex-Operations Chief in Milwaukee, Dies

By: E&P Staff Kenneth W. Adams, retired senior vice president for operations at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, died Saturday.

The 72-year-old Adams, worked for the newspaper for 41 years, rising through the ranks and retiring in 1996.

Todd Adams told the paper Saturday that his father liked the newspaper company enough to give up a Marquette University football scholarship in 1955, after the university helped him get a summer job baling up waste paper left on the rolls after press runs. Adams became an apprentice stereotyper, making lead letterpress plates and working until 3 or 4 a.m.

The paper quoted Todd Adams, who became Journal Sentinel Inc. senior vice president and chief financial officer and worked with his father for more than 10 years, saying, "My dad had a lot of friends and people who truly respected him because he always followed through on what he said. He always made sure people were taken care of. He knew how to deal with people, and that drove his success."

Robert A. Kahlor, retired chairman of Journal Communications Inc., the newspaper's parent company, described him as a loyal employee for his entire career, a man who "made enormous contributions."

The Journal Sentinel also quoted its former publisher, Keith Spore, describing Adams as a "can-do" person who helped plan the production plant that opened in West Milwaukee in 2003.

"For most of the years that he headed the production department, we were saddled with antiquated presses and a very small, outdated mailroom," Spore told the paper. "I don't know how he did it, but he kept those presses running. Without his leadership, I don't know how we would have put out our newspaper."