Myron J. Schober, the local newspaper man who crafted the headline "heard round the state" died Monday after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 72.
Schober, of Rushford, was the owner, editor and publisher, along with his wife, Darlene, of the Tri-County Record from 1978 to 2013. He sold the paper to Bluff Country Newspaper Group on March 1, 2013, due to his declining health, which included days he could barely get into the office, as he told the Post-Bulletin in 2012.
Schober made waves across the Midwest in 2007 with a headline on his flood coverage that screamed: "Rushford, Pawlenty's Katrina." The weekly paper was recognized with a prestigious Frank Premack Award for its flood coverage, and that headline was referenced frequently in the Legislature as it considered how to respond.
"He epitomized 'service to your community,' with endless energy and ideas to inspire all," said current Tri-County Record Office Manager Tara Hermanson, who worked with him for a year. "From every aspect of his newspaper, most notably his editorials, … he shared in promoting our small city since arriving in Rushford. We have lost a dear friend and someone I highly respected."
"Myron showed a remarkable will to live, no doubt driven by love for his family, relatives and his many friends," said Ron Witt, a retired reporter who worked at the Tri-County Record. "Hail and farewell to a man who made a lasting impact on the community and all those he worked with through the years."
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The Tri-County Record won more than 50 awards for the consistent, high-quality work churned out under Schober's leadership. The paper stopped entering the contests around 2003 because Schober said he felt like "we didn't have anything to prove."
The lone exception was the 2007 flood coverage entry for the Premack award, which is considered the top print journalism honor in Minnesota.
"Those were the three most important words I ever did," Schober said in 2012. "It was a headline heard round the world."
A veteran who served in the Vietnam War, Schober survived a helicopter crash prior to entering the world of journalism. He'd been married for more than five decades and covered nearly 2,000 city council meetings prior to retiring in the spring of 2013.
Schober's final days were marked by significant action to rebuild a community that was damaged by the 2007 flood. In May, state legislators approved a law requiring the state to pay 60 percent of the interest on loans districts are forced to take to fix or replace buildings damaged in natural disasters.
Earlier this month, residents in the Rushford-Peterson school district narrowly voted to approve bonding for $38.1 million to build a new school after seven years of inaction.
