Russell John Newton

April 12, 1960 - May 21, 2022 Russell John Newton, 62, of Verona, WI, died on May 21st, 2022, after a three-year battle with ALS. After a lifetime of travels all around the country, Russ won his battle just miles from where he was born.

Russ was born on April 12th, 1960, in Madison, WI to Robert and Delores (Cruckson) Newton. As his profession, he spent most of his life working his way through and up the chain in the newspaper industry. Russ and his best friend had newspaper routes in their teenage years back in the 70s. As an adult he began working as a press operator in Virginia (newspapers weren't all digital back then, you know), and was then promoted to a shift supervisor for the Chicago Tribune newspaper in 1985. Throughout the late 80s and early 90s Russ led production for the Daily Press newspaper in Virginia, then moved on to lead the packaging department at the Orlando Sentinel newspaper in Florida until 1998. Up until 2000 Russ served as the Director of Operations for a publisher of children's books in Ohio. He worked there with some other newspaper colleagues from his past and they must have printed too many books or something, so that didn't last too long, but it made for some funny stories. Russ moved to California in 2000 to serve as President and Director of Operations at California Community News, then became SVP of Operations & Home Delivery for the Los Angeles Times in 2007. Russ then became President and COO of the San Diego Union Tribune in 2015, the Director of Operations for the San Antonio Express-News in 2016, and a GM for Bay Area Production Services in 2018. If you plotted this all out on a map, it would become clear to you why everyone assumed his son came from a military family.

Russ was passionate about the newspaper industry and proud of his accomplishments, but that isn't why he'll be remembered by his friends and family. From his teenage years and up until the end of his life, Russ owned and read thousands upon thousands of books. He told the truth without hesitation. When he was diagnosed with ALS, he started a blog at russnewton.com to document his journey. He tried self-pity and despair, but that was only good for about a day. So, Russ lived his remaining life to its fullest. He traveled back and forth across the country with his friends. He sat front and center at the Super Bowl. He did everything until he couldn't, and even then, he'd still try to do a little more. Throughout his career subscriber counts of the print newspaper industry declined in favor of more online (and often more sensationalized) journalism, and his common saying for that would serve just as well as his epitaph – "they're going to miss us when we're gone."

Russ was preceded in death by his father, Robert, and his mother, Delores. He is survived by his son, Matthew Newton, his former spouse, Sue Newton, and his sister, Annette Craig.

A Celebration of Life for Russ will be held at Capital Brewery, 7734 Terrace Avenue, Middleton, WI 53562 on Saturday, July 16th, 2022, from 1pm to 5pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the ALS Therapy Development Institute located at 480 Arsenal Street, Suite 201, Waterton, MA 02472.