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Deceased Name: Harold Chucker , 79; he was Star Tribune editorial editor

Harold Chucker, a former Star Tribune editorial-page editor and Star business editor, died Saturday at Shalom Home West in St. Louis Park.

Chucker, 79, was known for his cogent analyses of foreign affairs and economics. During his tenure at the helm of the business pages, he chronicled the fears and struggles of small-business owners and defogged complex economic issues.

Robert White, a former editorial-page editor at the Star Tribune, said Chucker was "one of the most succinct, crisp writers on economical matters that I've seen in a long, long time."

Chucker's journalism career spanned 35 years, and his job descriptions ran the gamut: copy editor, copy desk chief, business editor and editorial editor. He was a former president of the Twin Cities Newspaper Guild and a former treasurer of the Minnesota United Nations Association.

"He was the most respected business journalist of his time in this city," said Dick Youngblood, Star Tribune business columnist, who worked with the Tribune when Chucker was with the Star. "Despite the fact that we worked for what were then competing newspaper staffs, he was a mentor to me."

Chucker, of St. Louis Park, came to the Star in the early 1960s. He joined the editorial staff of the Star in 1965 and was editorial editor from 1968 to 1975, when he took the job of associate editor to free himself from administrative duties so he could to devote himself to economics and economic policy.

"He was a no-nonsense writer and a healthy skeptic," White said. "He was a very likable sort of guy, not a glad-hander, but very straight."

Leonard Inskip, an editorial-page writer who worked with the Tribune when Chucker was with the Star, called him a "very decent guy and an honorable competitor."

After the Star and Tribune merged in 1982, Chucker and Inskip shared an office. Inskip said what he remembers most was Chucker's ability to write well and fast: "He had a rare ability to come in in the morning, glance at the paper, make a phone call or maybe two, and right away write a column for the next day's paper."

Chucker, a longtime member of Adath Jeshurun Synagogue in Golden Valley, was a graduate of North High School in Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota in 1940. He was active in the Sigma Delta Chi fraternity, American Newspaper Guild and Minnesota United Nations Association and was a member of the DFL.

He is survived by June, his wife of 49 years, and a daughter, Susan, of Lincoln, Mass. Arrangements are pending.

Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN)
Date: February 23, 1997

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