Award winning columnist championed African American community and fought racial injustice
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Press Club mourns the death April 16 of Eugene Kane, award winning former columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a 2014 inductee of the club’s Milwaukee Media Hall of Fame.
“We are grateful we had the opportunity to recognize Eugene’s excellence as a journalist, his passion for the Milwaukee community and his persistence in calling out racial injustice,” said Gene Mueller, press club president and host of Wisconsin’s Morning News at WTMJ 620.
Meg Kissinger, former Journal Sentinel investigative reporter and a long-time colleague, recalls Kane’s authenticity and perseverance.
“I would just say Gene was a straight shooter. There was nothing phony about him,” said Kissinger, now a visiting professor at Columbia University and fellow Hall of Fame honoree. “I used to shudder thinking about the invective he got from readers who dismissed him for the color of his skin. But Gene was never one to wallow in pity.
“He knew what he was up against and he took it.”