Jack Steele, former Daily News editor, dies at 77

THERE IS something about the fact that Jack Steele proposed to his wife on the Gettysburg Battlefield and that their first home is now at the bottom of a lake, that somehow captures the essence of the man.

A longtime newspaperman, Jack had a quirky sense of humor that often found its way into the headlines he wrote for the Daily News and the many other papers he worked for in five decades in the business.

There was the time that the Union League at Broad and Sansom streets voted to refuse membership to women. Jack's headline: "No Broads at Sansom."

It didn't make the paper. Even for the Daily News, it was a bit much. (And the Union League eventually admitted women.)

As an editor, Jack had a great passion for the "big story," happily dealing with all the complications of putting together such a piece for whatever paper he was working for.

John R. Steele Jr., whose long career in the newspaper business concluded with his stint as news editor of the Daily News from 1982 to his retirement in 1993, and whose other great passions were his family and deep-sea fishing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, died yesterday after a long struggle with congestive heart failure and other ailments. He was 77.

Jack was a great kidder and punster, whose style fit into the Daily News' frisky approach to the news. But he could be serious when the news called for it.

His sense of humor and jovial nature was endearing to the staff.

"Jack was a good newsman and a good friend to all," said Kevin Bevan, a Daily News news editor.

"When news broke out and a deadline was looming, his experience, common sense and wit were just what his colleagues needed.

"Thanks to Jack, the paper got out on time and in good order. As much as he loved the newspaper business, he loved retirement. He knew the best fishing spots on the Outer Banks. It was as if he had lived there all his life."

Jack was a native of Shamokin, Pa. He attended Dickinson College, in Carlisle, for two years and then began his newspaper career with the Shamokin News and Dispatch.

After a hitch in the Navy, he went to the Williamsport Sun, then back to Shamokin, and then on to the Lancaster Intelligencer-Journal, all within a year.

He went back to college while working in Lancaster and graduated from Franklin & Marshall in 1960. He then went on to work for the Atlantic City Press.

After Atlantic City, he went to the Trenton Times where he led the sports, Sunday and night news staffs at the Times and the Sunday Times-Advertiser.

He and his wife, the former Venus Courogen, lived in an old stone mill in the Langhorne area that is now at the bottom of Lake Luxembourg in Core Creek Park.

They then moved to the Highland Park section of Levittown, where they remained until Jack retired and they moved to Manteo, N.C. Venus died in 2005.

Jack won a number of journalism awards for both design and content. He also served as a mentor to young reporters and copy editors.

He demonstrated his independent spirit when the Washington Post took over the Trenton paper and he was asked by one of his bosses to name the "worst" people on the staff. Naturally, he refused.

When he arrived at the Daily News, John Praksta, an assistant managing editor and the man who put out the first edition, was relieved.

"I told him I didn't dare get sick because nobody else could do what I did," Praksta said. "He picked it up nicely."

And Praksta was able to take a vacation with a clear conscience.

"He was a veteran newsman of the old-school who could do any job on a newspaper," Praksta said.

"It was interesting growing up in a newspaper family," said Jack's son, Christopher. "He loved the business, and it was great to talk about newspapers on a Sunday morning with three or four Sunday papers on the table. Sometimes he would bring over reporters."

"He started taking me fishing when I was very young," Chris said. "We would take head boats off the Jersey shore. His dream was to go to the Outer Banks."

In 1997, he caught a 30-pound bluefish there, which turned out to be a state record. He was proud of the citation he received and the photo taken of him and the fish.

Ramona Smith, retired Daily News reporter and editor who worked with Jack in Trenton and at the Daily News, said: "An outgoing, upbeat and outspoken man, Jack might greet you with a booming, 'Why so morose and humorless?' and end the conversation with a cheerful, 'Be strong.' ''

"Jack worked with his staff as colleagues," Ramona said, "whether they were editors or reporters. The ideas were the important things, not the rank of the people offering them."

Jack is also survived by another son, David Steele; a daughter, Kim O'Donnell; a brother, Timothy Steele; and eight grandchildren. He was predeceased by another brother, David Steele. *

Services: Were being arranged.