ABOUT

MARQUETTE — Jim Reevs, publisher of The Mining Journal for 27 years, has been involved in many endeavors throughout this lengthy tenure at the newspaper, ranging from coverage of the controversial topic of high local gas prices to overseeing the popular Christmas charity, the Cheer Club. Reevs, who retired in 2019 from the Journal, reflected on his years at The Mining Journal and the newspaper business in general.

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“I’ve seen more changes in the last three years than I saw for the other 39 put together,” Reevs said. He has mixed feelings on those changes. “It’s kind of bad,” Reevs said. “It’s the impact social media has had on
newspapers.” However, he believes newspapers still play an important role in the community.

How that role is played, though, isn’t yet determined, and that’s a sentiment expressed by many people in the news business. “There’s nobody that does the same work as newspapers,” Reevs said. What’s important, he said, is the work newspaper journalists perform in comparison with other journalists. 

Reevs has 42 years of experience in the media business, starting with a stint as advertising director at the Rhinelander (Wisconsin) Daily News from 1977 to 1983. He was retail sales manager at The News Chronicle in
Thousand Oaks, California, from 1983 to 1985 and retail sales manager at the Fond du Lac (Wisconsin) Reporter from 1985 to 1989. Reevs was publisher/general manager at the West Bend Daily News in
West Bend, Wisconsin, from 1989 to 1992, becoming publisher/general manager at the Journal in 1992.

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Newspaper publishers, however, need to be active in the community, and Reevs has been a strong community advocate in many areas, including supporting mining in the Upper Peninsula and spearheading the Journal’s sponsorship of the U.P. 200 sled dog race. In fact, the paper is recognized as the Charter Lead Dog Sponsor. An avid skier and bicyclist, Reevs and the Journal have been strong sponsors of the Noquemanon Ski Marathon and the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic as well. He has served on the board of the Lake Superior Community Partnership, the Northern Michigan University Blue Line Club, the Shiras Institute board, the Rotary West Foundation board, the United States Olympic Education board and the NMU Athletic Advisory Committee. Reevs is active with the media consortium for the United Way of Marquette County and was a past co-chairman for its campaign.

 

He was a past leader of the Marquette County Ambassadors and worked with the YMCA of Marquette County as a consultant for the Y’s foundation. He is president of the Shiras Institute and will continue serving for the Salvation Army and the United Way. Reevs also plans to follow the Cheer Club — a program in which community members’ donated toys and money are distributed via the Salvation Army and the St. Vincent de Paul Society during the holidays —to make sure it continues. “That’s kind of a passion for me,” he said. “That’s as important as anything that I’ve done.”

Reevs has been married to his wife Maureen for 37 years. They have  twins, Timothy and Jessica, and eight grandchildren. Reevs also has two stepsons, Rusty and Mike Dunn. 

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Article provided by Christie Bleck of The Mining Journal on July 14, 2019

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