Pat Butler, Longtime Leader in Chicago Journalism, Passes Away

CHICAGO - Dec. 18, 2023 - PRLog -- Patrick, "Pat" Butler, a lifelong Chicagoan who was one of the deans of Chicago journalism, passed away on December 14 at age 83.

"I was too poor to go to law school, too immoral to join the clergy, and I had a bad left eye that kept me out of the army, so what does one do in a case like that but become a newspaperman?" Mr. Butler would say, laughing. "And I haven't regretted it for a single moment."

Mr. Butler began his journalism career as a stringer with the Lerner Newspapers in 1967, eventually moving up to managing editor.

Among Lerner's titles were the Booster, News-Star, and Skyline. Inside Publications had acquired the Booster, News-Star, and Skyline in 2009, so Mr. Butler continued writing for those publications until his passing.

He joined the Gazette Chicago staff in 2006, continuing to work there until his passing as well.

Among the exciting events of Mr. Butler's rough-and-tumble journalism career were covering the 1968 riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. "He was still a stringer for Lerner in 1968 and they couldn't get any other reporter to cover the riots, but Pat would," his longtime partner, Kathy Hills, recalled. "They immediately hired him full time. Leo Lerner, the editor and publisher, clearly loved him."

Mr. Butler also served more than a dozen years as president of the Ravenswood/Lake View Historical Association and for several years anchored a cable TV news/feature show, North Side Neighbors. He also was a former president of the Kiwanis Club of Lake View.

Because of his love of news and history, he wrote several books about the North Side: Hidden History of Lincoln Park, Hidden History of Ravenswood and Lakeview, and Hidden History of Uptown & Edgewater, published by Arcadia/History Press.

Mr. Butler was the partner of Kathy Hills; father of Kathleen Butler Greenan; father-in-law of Ryan Greenan; grandfather of Patrick (Paddy) and Declan; brother of Regina Dziewior; uncle of John Dziewior; cousin of Terry Butler and his wife, Gertrude; son of Valerie Sankauskas and Thomas Butler. Memorials may be made to Maryville Academy or the House of the Good Shepherd. See https://www.expertclick.com/NewsRelease/Pat-Butler-Longti...