Joseph J. O'Conor

1926 - 2018

(News story) Joseph J. O'Conor, a longtime Blade editor who was respected by newspaper colleagues for his judgment and even temper, died Tuesday in Community Hospice, Jacksonville, Fla. He was 92.

He received a pacemaker last year and broke a hip in January, but was in declining health only recently, his son Joe said.

Mr. O'Conor and his wife, Skip, lived in Atlantic Beach, Fla., the last 10 years. They lived on Parkside Boulevard in Toledo as their six children were growing up. They later moved into the North Shores area of LaSalle, Mich., and sailed Lake Erie from North Cape Yacht Club, where they were members.

Mr. O'Conor retired in 1984 as managing editor of The Blade. Afterward, he taught for several years at the University Toledo and then, until about a decade ago, at Siena Heights University in Adrian.

He was born March 19, 1926, to Madeleine and William O'Conor. His father was a lawyer and a senior partner in a New York City firm. Mr. O'Conor, after his undergraduate studies at Georgetown University, enrolled in the Fordham University law school. His first newspaper job was as a copy boy at the New York Journal-American, followed by a stint at the New York Daily News.

He left law school to pursue work in the news business. While at The Blade, he returned to law studies at the University of Toledo, received his degree, and was admitted to the Ohio Bar in April, 1959. He practiced law for a time while continuing his work at the newspaper.

"He loved being a newspaper man," said John Robinson Block, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Blade. "He was introduced to newspaper work and that became his love." Mr. O'Conor's law degree was helpful at The Blade, Mr. Block said. "We had some notorious drunkards on the staff then, and Joe would have the assignment to bail them out of jail."

Mr. O'Conor was analytical and decisive, his son said.

"He was good on hunches and generally was right," his son said. "Putting out the paper, that's the part he loved. He didn't love the office politics of it, but he loved meeting deadline."

Mr. O'Conor, after leaving Fordham law, came to Cleveland, strictly on a hunch, and he wrote in 1948 to Blade Managing Editor Paul Schrader as he sought a job on The Blade sports staff. In time, Mr. O'Conor became a sports writer and layout editor for the Cleveland News.

He was sports editor of the Fremont News-Messenger before The Blade hired him in 1949. He was sports copy editor and eventually slot editor, but he occasionally wrote a sports story. He was close to other young sports staffers of the era - Chet Sullwold, Jim Richard, and Eddie Jones among them.

"He was a great friend of my father," said Mike Jones, a retired Blade reporter. "He was a good person and a smart editor."

Mr. O'Conor was an Army veteran, stationed in Europe during military leave from The Blade.

After sports, he worked on the city, telegraph, and news desks. He was editor of the Sunday entertainment section, the Sunday magazine, and served as Sunday editor. He directed a reader-service feature, ZIP Line, when it was introduced in 1967.

Mr. O'Conor was named an assistant managing editor in January, 1968, managing editor in December, 1968, and executive editor in 1971. He later had the title of executive news editor.

"Not much rattled him," said Jenny Mount, a former Blade news editor and copy editor. "He did have very good news sense. He was a good manager, because he treated everybody with respect."

Miss Mount was a recent graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University when she sought a job on The Blade copy desk, which had been an outpost of male veterans of the newspaper. Mr. O'Conor and Bill Day, a longtime editor, were advocates of Miss Mount being hired.

"It was 1969, and he thought it was a good idea," she said of Mr. O'Conor. "It was unusual at the time to think it was a good idea to have more women in the newsroom."

He was genial, "not a guy who would yell at people," said Pat Green, a former Blade reporter. "He was kind of a hands-off guy if he trusted what you were doing."

He was a former member of Gesu Church and of St. Joseph Church, Monroe.

Surviving are his wife, the former Ann Cunningham, who is known as "Skip" and whom he married April 11, 1953; daughter, Maryann O'Conor; sons Joe, Bill, Casey, Richard, and Jim O'Conor; 20 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Paul Church, Jacksonville.

The family suggests tributes to St. Francis de Sales High School or St. Ursula Academy.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.