Jack P. Klaer

Aug. 11, 1911 – Dec. 12, 1994

MISHAWAKA - Jack P. Klaer, 83, former Mishawaka city editor for The Tribune, died at 4:45 p.m. Saturday in his home after an illness.

Mr. Klaer, of 2901 Grape Road, retired in 1977 from the newspaper after 35 years of service.

His career began in 1928 as a stringer for The Tribune when he was still in Mishawaka High School. He later worked at the South Bend News-Times until the paper closed in 1938.

Mr. Klaer joined The Tribune in 1942. In his early employment, he was a photographer as well as a reporter covering sports, City Hall and City Council issues. By the mid-1950s he was promoted to copy editor, then city editor.

In the 1950s and 1960s he won four awards in the Indiana University Journalism Photography Contest for feature and news photos.

He was born Aug. 24, 1911, in Mishawaka and was a lifelong area resident. On Sept. 5, 1930, in Lakeville, he married Virginia U. Moore. She survives with three sons, Jack of South Bend and Jerry and Thomas, both of Mishawaka; six grandchildren; and two brothers, Lynn of Mishawaka and Dick of Las Vegas. A son, James, died in 1952.

He was a member of Albright United Methodist Church, Eagles Lodge 235 and Mishawaka-Penn Township Democratic Club. He was inducted into the Mishawaka High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991, was Mishawaka softball commissioner for 35 years, and was one of the founders of the Mishawaka High School Alumni Association.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday in Bubb Funeral Chapel North, 3910 N. Main St. Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery. Friends may call from 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. today in the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of St. Joseph County Inc.