April 4, 2007

Beloved is not a word that gets used much to describe people these days.

But it is precisely the word to describe Neal Shine, the retired Free Press publisher and community leader who died Tuesday at age 76.

There are others words, of course, that apply to Shine: respected, insightful, committed, competitive and compassionate. He also was a journalist, leader, mentor, teacher, historian, storyteller, executive, husband, father and grandfather. (And a soft touch for anyone worse off than he was.)

But to those who knew and worked with him at the Free Press or in the community, Shine was simply beloved.

The source of the emotion he evoked was the personal touch he brought to everything he did.

In a world where too much communication takes on the distant tenor of keyboards and other contraptions, Shine was an in-person kind of guy. With a ready smile, a willing ear and a generous spirit, he delivered warmth wherever he went, and that was a lot of places. Few speakers were in more demand than Shine, because the community knew that, like the Free Press, he always delivered.
The extent to which the Free Press today is regarded not just as a source of news but also as a friendly, caring voice in the community is due to the culture Shine was instrumental in creating. If the Free Press has a tone, it is in the timbre of Shine's voice, asking the right questions, telling the whole story and bringing a sense of this place, Detroit. If the Free Press has a sense of humor, it is Shine's -- sometimes droll, sometimes raucous, never absent.

One manifest tribute to Shine's influence on the newspaper and the community it serves was the invitation he accepted to return from retirement in 1990 to assume the role of publisher shortly after the rocky start of the joint operating agreement between the Free Press and rival Detroit News. The newspaper's internal morale and external relations were in need of repair -- a job perfectly suited to Shine.

His rise from a copyboy to publisher of his hometown newspaper is a story not likely to be duplicated in modern journalism. People move around more these days, or get sent places. Certainly Shine did not lack for such opportunities, but in Detroit, he was home -- and this was the place he cared most about in the world. It was a place he never stopped trying to make better, even as he chronicled its troubles and faults. It was the place where he grew up, came of age and determined to leave his mark.
He sure did. And a beloved one at that.