Beverly Kees

Special remembrances and memorials have been set up for Beverly Kees, a local journalist nationally respected for her work as an editor, educator, professor, and innovator. She was struck and killed by a large truck Dec. 10 as she crossed a street near her San Francisco apartment while walking her neighbor's dog. She was 63.

The news stunned her many friends and colleagues.

Bev, as she was known, was a Minnesota native who cut a wide swath in U.S. and San Francisco journalism: she was a reporter and assistant managing editor at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, executive editor of the Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota, editor of the Post-Tribune in Valparaiso, Ind., executive editor of the Fresno Bee from 1988 to 1993, and coeditor of the book Nothing Sacred: Journalism, Politics and Public Trust in a Tell-All Age. In San Francisco she was known for the innovative programs she produced during the 1990s as an editor and a program director for the local office of Freedom Forum and as president of the northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She also taught journalism at San Francisco State University.

Kees was a tireless and effective advocate for worthy journalism causes including diversity in the newsroom, freedom of information, ethics, and professional development. Her latest cause was heading up a special SPJ umbrella committee dedicated to putting together a local journalism museum and news center for the West as a key component of the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society project at the Old Mint building.

Kees leaves a brother, Burt Kees of Phoenix and three step siblings, Mike Halpern of Glen Ullin, N.D., Gretchen Tselos of San Francisco, and Mary Flint of Farmington, Maine.

Donations to support the kind of journalism programs Kees cared so deeply about can be sent to the Beverly Kees Fund for Journalism, c/o Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, 3909 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46208-4011. The northern California chapter of SPJ has posted a memorial page at www.spj.org/norcal. Family and friends are planning a private memorial for Dec. 17. Click here for details. (Bruce B. Brugmann)

Links:

Read people's remembrances and write your own on this national site: http://www.legacy.com/Legacy.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=2911413

Letter to Mayor Willie Brown from Beverly Kees proposing development of a news museum to be located at the Old Mint building

Notice by the Associated Press Managing Editors Association announcing a memorial fund in memory of Beverly.

Obituaries

San Jose Mercury News
San Francisco Chronicle
Minneapolis Star Tribune