Lynn Sears

1946 - 2016

Lynn Sears, news reporter, editor, co-author of Zone Meals in Seconds, and devoted wife and mother, died peacefully in her sleep January 8th, 2016 after a long respiratory illness. She was 69 years old. When Lynn wasnt raising her two children, she was a newswoman who worked in both print and broadcast, back when newsrooms didnt feature many women of authority. She had to be tough and smart, two traits that became immediately clear to anyone that encountered her. Her biggest claim to fame was a job that often went uncredited. Lynn lent her editorial supervision to the New York Times best selling Zone Diet books, authored by her husband Dr. Barry Sears. Without her keen eye for detail and the patience to simplify Dr. Sears complicated dietary research, those groundbreaking books may have never been published. Born Lynn Magnuson on May 12, 1946, she grew up in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small, middle class suburb outside of Chicago. Theater was her first love, beginning during her time at Glenbard West High School, continuing through college at Illinois Wesleyan University and culminating in a Masters in Theater degree at University of Indiana in 1970. Lynn received more than an education at Indiana; she also found a soul mate when she met a tall, bright chemist who loved playing volleyball named Barry Sears. It was love at first sight, and after a brief courtship the couple married in 1969. They would be together for the next 46 years. Lynns reporting career began in the early 1970s, when the young couple moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. Starting off as a late night disc jockey (briefly employing her husband) she quickly rose up the ranks and became the News Director of local radio station WINA. In the mid-70s, they moved to Boston where she was the weekend news anchor for the local CBS radio affiliate. By the end of the decade the family moved to the suburbs, and Lynn landed a job at the Marblehead Reporter. Lynn left the Reporter family in 1995, after serving as editor of both Marblehead and Swampscott Reporters concurrently. After a brief retirement from the news world to aid the growth of Zone Enterprises, she joined The Lynn Item, another Boston area newspaper, as their news desk Copy Editor. However, her greatest accomplishments were raising her two daughters, Kelly and Kristin. Like their mother, they both went into arts and pursued film and writing respectively. It is through them, Kristins husband, Andrew Millard, and her new grandson, Lukas, that Lynns indomitable spirit lives on. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Treasure Coast Hospice. A memorial celebrating her life will be held in Marblehead on May 12th, her birthday.