LAURA VARON BROWN  
DETROIT FREE PRESS TWIST MAGAZINE EDITOR

4/15/2007

A surgeon saved my daughter Emma's life, but Neal Shine, in many ways, saved mine.

Neal was publisher when my daughter had her near-fatal burn injury. Neal's leadership and compassion were life changing.

For those of you who may not know of Neal, he was the former Free Press publisher who died April 3.

For so many of us at the Free Press, when hardship struck, Neal made sure that of all the complications in these situations, the Free Press wasn't one of them.

Within hours of my daughter being taken to the trauma burn unit at Children's Hospital of Michigan, I saw a huge basket of fruit and flowers being carried past Emma's door. I remember thinking how beautiful it was.

Later that night, I spotted the basket at the nurse's station, so I peeked at the card, which read: "Take care of our baby. Sincerely Neal Shine and The Detroit Free Press." That basket was not for me. It was for the incredible people who were saving Emma's life.

And with that, Neal was part of saving mine.

On Aug. 27, 1993, I ran out of the Free Press after that frantic call and didn't return for months and not once did Neal make me feel I should be any place else.

For me, a young manager at the time, Neal taught me that compassion is a two-way street. You give. You get. Family comes first. Work second. If we ever pit them against each other, family will win. He's a smart one. He won my loyalty and hard work that lasts to this day.

At the time, my husband, Jeff, worked for a boss who docked his pay when Emma's surgeries fell during work hours. So he could only stay through the long nights at the hospital. This left little time for him to go home. But that was OK because Neal made sure the morning guards at the Free Press knew to let my husband in at 5 every morning so he could shower and not have to drive all the way home before going to work. It was months before Jeff's boss asked how Emma was doing.

Neal taught me how humanity is our most essential tool.

But make no mistake, that humanity came with an unshakeable expectation that as journalists, we would never fail the community we covered.

Neal's humor was a hallmark, too. Before Emma was even born, I brought my older daughter to see where I worked. After coaching her, then a 2-year-old, on how to behave when she met the "big boss," Neal turned my plan upside down. When I introduced her to "Mr. Shine," he immediately took Molly's hand, skipped to his office, and jumped up and down on his couch with her. From that day, my daughter always saw my job as a place where she was welcome.

The fine line between work and family intersects at every moment. It just does.

The unforgettable thing about Neal is that he always put people and families first. And when you do that, good journalism and compassionate journalists are never far behind.

Laura Varon Brown, editor  lvaron@freepress.com, 313.222.5002