Longtime Northern Wisconsin Owner/Publisher Dies at 86

By: A longtime owner and editor of a weekly newspaper that featured his column about life in northern Wisconsin has died. Warren Leary Jr. was 86.

Leary's family says he died Monday at his home.

Leary's father purchased the Rice Lake Chronotype in 1923 and Leary, after a year at the Milwaukee Journal, took over news operations in 1948. He became publisher and co-owner of the weekly in 1959 and retired in 1986. Leary continued to write his column, "Out Amongst 'em," right up to the time of his death.

Leary was inducted into the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Hall of Fame in 2002.

Among his survivors is a son, Michael, the managing editor for news at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Funeral services are planned Saturday in Rice Lake.