Feb. 02--Eric Lund brought decades of experience as a reporter and editor to his work at Columbia College, where he created and ran the graduate journalism program for a decade.
Lund, former editor of the Evanston Review, also taught students at North Park College and as an adjunct instructor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
"Eric was the consummate professional. He was just a terrific editor," said former Daily News reporter and Sun-Times executive editor Larry Green. "He was one of the people whom you'd want to have edit your piece, because he was able to do it in your voice, and when he made changes, they were invisible. You couldn't tell whether you had written it that way or whether it had been edited that way."
Lund, 90, died of congestive heart failure Jan. 16 at Evanston Hospital, said his wife of 25 years, Grace Carlson-Lund. He had lived in Evanston for close to 70 years, she said.
Born in Chicago to Swedish immigrants, Lund grew up in the South Side's Englewood neighborhood. Interested in journalism from a young age, Lund put out a neighborhood newspaper while in grade school, his wife said. Lund served in the Army in the Philippines and Japan during and immediately after World War II, his family said.
Lund earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Medill in 1949. During and after college, he worked for the Evanston Review, covering City Hall.
In 1957, Lund joined the Chicago Daily News, where he was a reporter and assistant city editor. He left the Daily News in 1961 to return to the Evanston Review as its editor.
"Eric always knew the right people to talk to get what he needed, and he did so with absolute accuracy," said Ken Wylie, a friend. "It was very significant to him that they put out a really professional paper there and they did that."
In 1966, Lund returned to the Daily News, where he worked on the city desk, served as Saturday editor and then became the paper's assistant managing editor. Former Daily News deputy city editor Jack Schnedler remembered Lund's "innate human decency," which he said "matched his journalistic acumen."
"Back when newsrooms were too often rough and raucous, Eric provided a welcomed calming influence, especially to newer members of the staff," Schnedler said. "His counsel to young reporters still learning their craft was freely given and generally of high value."
Former Sun-Times editor Ralph Otwell knew Lund for more than 60 years and remembered Lund's empathy.
"One of the qualities that marked his actions as both writer and editor was a compassion and concern that often is missing in many journalists," Otwell said. "In actions and attitude, Eric demonstrated empathy with a warm, considerate interest in others."
"The Daily News was the peak for him," Lund's wife said. "Being the assistant managing editor there and the people he met there -- they were just so wonderful."
Shortly before the Daily News folded, Lund took a job teaching journalism and worked in the public relations department at North Park College, now North Park University.
In 1984, Lund left North Park to join Columbia College, where he helped establish the graduate journalism program. Lund was lured to Columbia by former Daily News editor Daryle Feldmeir, who chaired Columbia's journalism department from 1982 until 1987.
The three-semester program won accreditation in 1984. Lund took students to Springfield for four weeks to cover the state legislature, and students also spent a month in Washington covering Congress.
"He was proud of setting up that program," his wife said.
After retiring from Columbia in 1994, Lund traveled frequently. He also took an interest in genealogy and in his Swedish-American roots, becoming a board member of the Swedish-American Historical Society in 1973 and chairing the board of directors from 1994 until 1996. Lund also enjoyed doing writing and research for the Swedish-American Historical Society's quarterly newsletter.
Lund won many honors for his professional work and his personal work. In 1973, the Daily News awarded him the Marshall Field Award for Outstanding Editorial Contribution to the paper, and in 1977, the king of Sweden awarded Lund the king's bicentennial medal for his work on Swedish-American history.
To honor Lund's long tenure as an adjunct instructor, Medill created the Eric Lund Global Reporting and Research Grant to help fund optional quarterlong research and reporting projects for Medill graduate students.
Lund's first wife, Florence Johannsen Lund, was a journalist and an artist who died in 1989.
A service will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 939 Hinman Ave., Evanston.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
