Detroit — Former Detroit Free Press publisher Neal Shine left a lasting impression at the University of Detroit Mercy, his alma mater and his teaching home for several years.
And last week, 15 days after Shine's death, the UDM community paid tribute to his influence by dedicating its new Neal Shine Media Center, from which students publish the campus newspaper, The Varsity News.
"It was Neal's dream, I think, to return this newspaper to (its) former glory days, and I think we are headed in that direction," said Charles Marske, Ph.D., dean of the college of liberal arts and education at UDM.
After a liturgy to mark the occasion, celebrated by university President Fr. Gerard Stockhausen, dozens crowded into the new home of The Varsity News, a clean-looking classroom with 12 new computers lining its walls. Posters of Varsity News issues dating back to the early 20th century decorated the classroom.
Shine, known for his connectedness with the Detroit-area community and his columns which often detailed growing up in St. Rose of Lima Parish on Detroit's lower east side, graduated from the University of Detroit in 1952. In later years — during a career at the Detroit Free Press that took him from copyboy to publisher — he served as an adjunct professor at the university.
Alumni of The Varsity News, UDM's studentnewspaper, check out the paper's new home. |
As was the case with many Catholic charities, Shine helped raise funds for the new media center and worked with the school's alumni and faculty to make it a reality. He was expected at the dedication, before his death at 76. He had had lymphatic cancer and pneumonia.
His wife, Phyllis, and son, Dan — also a professor at UDM — were at the dedication.
"We're greatly honored by this," said Dan Shine. "And my father was honored."
Marske said the university was on its way to completing the $40,000 fundraising goal for the media center. Many Varsity News alumni told stories of Shine and spoke of his legacy while checking out the new newsroom and flipping through bound issues of past newspapers.
