Jan. 18--Phillip J. O'Connor worked at two Chicago newspapers and was known for his ability to quickly write up stories based on notes phoned in by reporters.
"He was the best newspaperman I ever knew or met," said retired Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bob Herguth.
O'Connor, 84, died of heart failure Dec. 18 at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., said his wife of 57 years, Therese. He had been in failing health after having three heart procedures, she said.
Born in Minneapolis, O'Connor grew up in tiny Sharon, Wis., near the Illinois-Wisconsin border, and played basketball at Sharon High School. After earning a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa in 1953, O'Connor worked for the Clinton Herald in Iowa and the Omaha World-Herald before taking a job as a reporter at the Chicago Daily News.
"He felt that it was the best newspaper in Chicago," his wife said.
O'Connor covered a variety of subjects for the Daily News, including the deadly Our Lady of Angels School fire in 1958. O'Connor often worked as a rewrite man, crafting copy based on facts phoned in by reporters. Newspapers had multiple editions throughout the day, which meant stories had to be continuously updated.
"Phil was well-sourced and had the best phone book in our newsroom," said retired Sun-Times and Daily News reporter Harlan Draeger. "As a rewrite man, he also knew how to make the rest of us look good."
After the Daily News folded in 1978, O'Connor landed a reporting position at the Sun-Times, where columnist Mark Brown worked alongside O'Connor and remembered him as being "super soft spoken" but always working.
"He was like this bulldog. He'd do whatever it took to get the story," Brown said.
Retired Sun-Times assistant city editor Roger Flaherty recalled O'Connor's ability to ferret out a story by telephone from his desk.
"He was incredibly fast," Flaherty said. "And even if he did not have an assigned story, Phil would start calling his various sources and see what's going on in this situation and that situation, and incredibly, he'd come up with another story."
O'Connor was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 1995.
After retiring from the Sun-Times in September 1997, O'Connor and his wife moved from Elmhurst to Scottsdale.
O'Connor also is survived by two sons, John and Michael; three daughters, Molly Holzer, Maggie Zinke and Katie DuMars; and three sisters, Marion McConnell, Virginia O'Connor and Kathleen O'Connor.
Services were held.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
