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Obituaries published in the October 2022 edition of the Texas Press Messenger.

George B. Irish
AVALON, N.J. – George B. Irish, a publisher of Texas newspapers who led the San Antonio Light at the height of its rivalry with the Express-News and left a mark on the city as a philanthropist and civic leader, died Sept. 13 at his home in New Jersey. He was 78.
Irish’s career in newspapers took him to eight different cities. During 29 years at the Hearst Corp., he was publisher of the Beaumont Enterprise, the Midland Reporter-Telegram and the Light, which the company closed in 1993 in order to buy the rival Express-News from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
Later, Irish led the Hearst Newspapers Group before guiding two of the Hearst family’s philanthropic foundations.
During his years in San Antonio, Irish supported local charities, the San Antonio Symphony, construction of the Alamodome and restoration of the historic San Fernando Cathedral. He was an advocate for open government, as evidenced when the Light went to court to force the city to release internal affairs complaints against two police officers accused of racial profiling.
Irish had a significant impact on San Antonio, both as publisher and as a leader of the Hearst Foundations, which have provided funds for the county’s electronic library system.
Irish grew up in Ohio and graduated from Millikin University in Decatur, Ill. He joined Hearst in 1979 when the company acquired the Midland (Mich.) Daily News. He became publisher of the Light in 1988, a time of fierce competition for newspaper subscribers and advertisers.
In October 1992, Hearst announced that it would buy the rival Express-News from News Corp. and close the Light if it could not find a buyer. Hearst said at the time that the Light had lost $60 million since 1987.
There would be no rescue. On Jan. 27, 1993, the paper’s 620 employees learned that the Light was closing. Irish himself delivered the news, standing on a chair in the second-floor newsroom.
“Effective this moment, employees are released,” he said. The announcement elicited “both cheers and tears,” the Light reported in its last edition, delivered to subscribers the next morning.
“Your personal courtesies to me will never be forgotten,” Irish told the assembled employees, many of whom lined up to shake his hand or hug him, the Light reported. Employees received severance and an opportunity to apply for available positions within Hearst.
That same year, Irish was named a vice president and group executive for Hearst Newspapers. He became general manager of the newspapers group in 1998 at age 53. 
He led the division during an especially challenging time, as newspapers coped with the tidal shift to online news consumption and the resulting pressure on print advertising revenue and newsroom budgets.
After his retirement in 2008, Irish became vice president and eastern director of the two Hearst Foundations: the William Randolph Hearst Foundation of California and the Hearst Foundation Inc. of New York.
Separate from the corporation, the Hearst Foundations engage in philanthropy on a national scale in the fields of culture, education, health and social services. Since their inception, the foundations have made more than 22,200 grants, totaling $1.4 billion, to 6,300 organizations.
Irish served on the boards of the Newspaper Association of America (now known as the News Media Alliance), the United Way of New York City, the International Center for Journalists, the READ Foundation, the Nieman Foundation Board of Advisors and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism’s Board of Visitors. 
He was president of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association and served as president, chairman and director of the American Press Institute, which gave Irish its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.
He was preceded in death by his wife Mary Rettig Irish in 2005.
He is survived by his wife Jeannie Wetherill Irish, two daughters, seven grandchildren and other relatives.
Funeral mass services were held Sept. 23 in Fremont, Ohio, and Oct. 19 in New York City.
Irish graduated from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. He maintained a lifelong tie to the institution. The university is among the charities where memorial donations may be made: Millikin University, 1184 W. Main St., Decatur, IL 62522, millikin.edu.

Juanita Jean Stepp
NORTH VERNON, IND – Juanita Jean Stepp, who worked many years as a reporter and photographer at the Floyd County Hesperian in Floydada, died Aug. 30 at her home in North Vernon, Indiana. She was 75.
Stepp spent much of her time as a reporter covering events of everyone else’s life, “including stock shows and festivals,”  former editor Alice Gilroy said. 
Stepp also covered local government, attending city council, school board, commissioners court meetings. Additionally, she did darkroom work at the newspaper.
After leaving Texas, Stepp worked as a library assistant in Indiana.
She is survived by three children, two grandchildren, six great grandchildren and other relatives.
No services were held.
Memorials may be made to the Bartholomew County Public Library through the Dove-Sharp & Rudicel Funeral Home, 420 South State Street, North Vernon, Indiana 47265.