John Lynch

John R. ‘Jack’ Lynch

December 18, 1934 — May 16, 2018

John R. Lynch, 83, lifelong resident of Hibbing, died Wednesday, May 16, 2018, at Essentia St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth.

He was born on Dec. 18, 1934, to John F. and Grace M. (Johnson) Lynch in Hibbing. He graduated from Hibbing High School in 1953, attended Hibbing Junior College for two years, graduating in 1955 and went on to the University of Minnesota, School of Journalism, graduating in 1957.

Jack worked at the Duluth Herald and News-Tribune for about a year before getting a “greeting” and spending the next two years in the U.S. Army. He returned to the Duluth News-Tribune for about a year before joining his hometown paper, the Hibbing Daily Tribune (HDT), in the spring of 1961. He worked as Range editor and news editor for the next 38 years and one month, retiring in June 1999.

Unable to put the pen down, Jack went back to work part-time at the Chisholm Tribune Press and then rejoined HDT in 2005 to do copy editing, write an occasional column and craft his “Years of Yore” history pages each Sunday until he passed.

In 2008, HDT published “Jack’s Journals,” a three-year compilation of investigative journalism that put a hometown touch on 100 years of Range history. The book propelled him into public spotlight with speaking gigs and book signings.

In 2011, Jack was honored by the St. Louis County Board with an "Excellence in the Arts & Sciences" Award for his longtime commitment and loyalty to local journalism.

The Hibbing Historical Society honored Jack with a plaque of appreciation for being a newspaperman and historian in May 2016. Affectionately referred to it as the “hysterical” society, he served on the Society’s Board of Governors from 2007 until he passed.

In 2017, Jack was inducted into the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s Half Century Club for 50 years of faithful service to the newspaper profession. His goal was to “keep doing stories as long as I’m able to put together a coherent narrative,” he’d say.

Outside of work, Jack was always interested in aviation. He frequented the Oshkosh, Wis., air shows and loved drawing pictures of airplanes as a kid.

He liked to vacation on the North Shore and snap photos of scenery there. He also appreciated music — “classical, folk and some rock, but not the super-hardened variety.”

A lover of books, Jack could routinely be found at Snap Fitness mid-afternoon reading a book while on a recumbent bicycle. He was also famous for patronizing a specific downtown Hibbing diner each night of the week.

He is survived by his brother, Michael (Ann) Lynch of Minneapolis; nephews, Thomas Gabriel Lynch of Minneapolis and Sven Lynch of Stockholm, Sweden; nieces, Bonney and Jenny Lynch, both of Calif.; cousin, Betty Rutherford of Hibbing; his family at the Hibbing Daily Tribune; and his dear friends, Joe (Mary) Keyes of Hibbing and Melissa (Shawn) Cox of Hibbing.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his cat, Mindy; and, as he stated in his highly dry sense of humor, “by Adam and Eve and a host of others.”

A Gathering of Family and Friends will be from 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm, Sunday, June 10, 2018 at the Dougherty Funeral Home of Hibbing.