Michael Miner, columnist and editor once called "rock" of the Chicago Reader, dies at 81
Michael Miner, a renowned Chicago journalist who was best known as an editor and columnist for the Chicago Reader, died last week.
Miner, of Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood, died Thursday, May 1. He was 81. In a 2011 column, fellow Chicago Reader writer Steve Bogira characterized Miner as "the Reader's rock," and "the conscience of Chicago journalism."
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Miner graduated from Kirkwood High School outside St. Louis at just 15, according to a published obituary. He had hoped to write short stories and plays, but instead earned a bachelor's of journalism four years later from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Bogira wrote.
Miner's first job was for Watkins products, where he sold household goods such as vanilla extract door-to-door in suburban St. Louis, according to his obit. His first writing job followed with the Disciples of Christ publication house, where he wrote catalog copy with such advice as. "Before you chow down, bow down," according to his obit.
Miner enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he served on an aircraft carrier off North Vietnam, and joined the St. Louis bureau of the UPI wire service after an honorable discharge, according to his obit. He then moved to Chicago and joined the Chicago Sun-Times, where he worked from 1970 to 1978.
Miner took a leave of absence from the Sun-Times in 1975 to return to Vietnam to cover the end of the war, according to his obit. But instead of getting a spot in a helicopter out of Saigon, he posed as the husband and father of a young family to help them escape to Paris, his obit noted.
Meanwhile, while working for the Sun-Times, Miner began freelancing for the Reader. He had a story in the very first issue of the paper on Oct. 1, 1971, documenting observations of people and sights along Chicago's lakefront on a cloudy fall night.
"The beach was empty. The couple had left. The man trying to sleep on the sand had moved. Cars ran north with such a whoosh they seemed to be cutting through water. The night's drama still tingled, yet I presumed to write in my notepad, 'You can point to the beach and say, "The insanity stops here." It's something that holds the whole city in check.'
"Chicago, like Naples and Algiers, grew up next to a philosophy lesson."
Miner joined the Reader full-time in 1979. He became the editor for the Hot Type media column, and later started writing the column while also editing other writers.
In his 2011 column honoring Miner, Bogira characterized him as "curious and blessed with a supple mind."
"He knows media so well—both the practitioners in Chicago and the issues locally and nationally—that it's easy to understand why he's stuck with that subject all these years. But I would have liked to have seen the general-interest column he might have written. He has the wit and skill of the fabled Mike Royko, but is more cerebral. He does lack Royko's switchblade: he's willing to offend, but his hating instinct is underdeveloped."
While Miner did not typically center his own life in his columns, he did write a powerful and harrowing firsthand account in 1982 of being called at the office about a fire at his house where his 10-month-old daughter was rescued, but her babysitter was found brutally murdered. Miner took the column as an occasion to reflect on the exercise of dealing with the news media from the other side.
Among the work Miner edited was John Conroy's stories exposing Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and allegations of torture, which Miner edited for 10 years.
Miner won the Chicago Headline Club's Peter Lisagor Awards for Best News Column or Commentary in 1991, 1992, and 2008. His obit noted.
He also served on the board of trustees at Chicago's Francis W. Parker School, and tutored third graders at LaSalle Language Academy for eight years, his obit noted.
Miner is survived his wife, Betsy; daughters Molly, Joanna, and Laura; and grandchildren Solomon, Neva, Elise, and Jesse.
A memorial service is scheduled for later this month.
