Former news reporter, deputy editor at Ad Age
Longtime Chicago journalist Lawrence E. Doherty worked for two stretches totaling 30 years at the weekly trade magazine Advertising Age, rising to become the publication’s deputy editor.
“Larry was a caring and upbeat guy with solid news judgment and an even and inspiring hand with our staff,” said Rance Crain, former president of Crain Communications, which publishes Advertising Age.
Doherty, 87, died of natural causes on Tuesday at the Radford Green Health Care and Rehabilitation Center at the Sedgebrook retirement community in Lincolnshire, said his daughter, Lauren Wilson. He had been a Lincolnshire resident since 2009, previously living in Mount Prospect.
Born in Hillside, he was the son of Frank Doherty, a onetime Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun reporter. Doherty moved with his family to Chicago in 1941 and graduated from St. Philip High School in Chicago in 1948.
Doherty studied for one year at the University of Illinois’ campus at Navy Pier and then transferred to Wright Junior College for a year before attending classes at the U. of I.’s Urbana-Champaign campus for a semester. He served in the Army in its public information office during the Korean War, posted first in Sendai, Japan, and then, in 1953, in Korea, his family said.
After his military discharge, Doherty held a reporting job with the City News Bureau of Chicago before returning to the U. of I. at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1957. Doherty joined Advertising Age in 1957 in Chicago as a reporter.
He left the magazine in 1963 to serve as editor of Chicago-based Putnam Publishing’s monthly Food Business magazine and as managing editor of Putnam’s monthly Food Processing & Marketing publication.
In 1967, Doherty moved his family to Peekskill, N.Y., when he took a job as
by Democratic presidential candidate John Kennedy to an audience of students at the University of Michigan.
In 1964 civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1968 the first live telecast from a manned U.S. spacecraft was transmitted from Apollo 7.
In 1977 singer-actor Bing Crosby died near Madrid; he was 74.
In 1980 Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan promised that, if elected, he would name a woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. (He later nominated Judge Sandra manager of creative and marketing services for the New York City-based monthly Progressive Grocer magazine. After the magazine folded in 1969, Doherty shifted to work as managing editor of a sister publication, Grocery Manufacturer. Doherty returned to Chicago in 1972 when he became Advertising Age’s managing editor.
“Larry was the finest managing editor I have known. His ability to sniff out news, plug the holes in stories and compose sharp headlines was legendary,” said retired Advertising Age assistant managing editor Mike Ryan. “But most of all he was the steady rock in a chaotic deadline newsroom.”
Former Tribune business columnist Robert Reed, who earlier in his career was a reporter for Advertising Age, called Doherty “decent, kind and respectful.”
“Larry jump-started my
Day O’Connor of Arizona.)
In 1987 18-month-old Jessica McClure of Midland, Texas, captured the nation’s attention when she fell 22 feet down an abandoned well. (Hundreds of volunteers would work 58 hours before pulling her out.)
In 2003 during Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, Cubs fan Steve Bartman inadvertently deflected a foul ball away from the outstretched glove of Chicago outfielder Moises Alou; the Florida Marlins, down 3-0 at the time, rallied to win the game and went on to win Game 7 and advance to the World Series, where they defeated the New York Yankees. journalism career by agreeing to hire me but more important he was also a managerial role model — someone who got the work done but was always courteous to his staff and treated them as peers, even though he knew way more than any of us,” Reed said.
Reed also lauded Doherty’s temperament, which enabled him to navigate pressure-filled situations with “humor and patience.”
“He was a deft editor and a cool head under pressure,” Reed said. “One of his favorite sayings, when he had too many stories and not enough space, was, ‘We’ve got 15 pounds of groceries and a 10-pound bag.’ ”
In 1984, Doherty was named Advertising Age’s deputy editor, under longtime editor Fred Danzig.
“He had an even keeled, enduring quality as managing editor that earned the respect of everyone,” said Larry Edwards, who succeeded Doherty as managing editor.
After retiring from Advertising Age in 1996, Doherty spent time caring for his wife of 43 years, Barbara Jacqueline “Jackie” Doherty, who died in October 2000 after struggling with multiple sclerosis.
Doherty also is survived by a son, Matthew; three other daughters, Julie, Sheila Roth and Lisa Zaroogian; a sister, Ellen Hadley; and seven grandchildren.
A visitation will take place from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Glueckert Funeral Home, 1520 N. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights. A funeral viewing will start at 11:30 a.m. Monday at St. Raymond’s Catholic Church, 301 S. I-Oka Ave. in Mount Prospect, followed by a funeral mass at 12:30 p.m.