John Will William Fehr

1926~2010

Will Fehr, former Editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, died Sunday, October 31, 2010 of heart failure.

Fehr was the Tribune’s editor from 1981 until his retirement in 1991. Prior to that time, he was the paper’s City Editor for 15 years and its Managing Editor for one year. Early in his career, he was a reporter and Medical Writer for the Deseret News. He also worked in Los Angeles for Audio Digest, which provided tape-recorded medical information for doctors.

In 1964, he served as President of the Utah Headliner’s Chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists. In 1986, the University of Utah Department of Communication awarded him the Quintus C. Wilson Alumni Achievement Award. He was a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

John William Fehr was born March 8, 1926 in Long Beach, California to John and Evelyn James Fehr. He attended Salt Lake area schools and received a BA degree in English at the University of Utah in 1951. He was a member of Sigma Chi. He married Cynthia Chadwick Moore on September 4, 1951.

During World War II, he served as a Navy Signalman aboard an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific. After graduation from the university, he spent two years in the U.S. Air Force as a Psychological Warfare Officer, serving as a writer and reporter at the Munich, Germany, Radio Center of the Voice of America.

He is survived by his wife, Cynthia; son, Michael John (Patience) Fehr, Montana; daughter, Martha Ann Fehr, MD, Massachusetts; nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren; sister, Mary Beth Jorgensen, Midvale, and brother, Thomas James Fehr, Sacramento, Calif. He was preceded in death by his parents, and a brother, Phillip Conrad Fehr.

A brief memorial service will be held Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at 2:00 pm with a visitation one hour prior at Evans and Early Mortuary, 574 East 100 South, SLC. In Lieu of flowers, those wishing may make donations to the Salvation Army, Utah Food Bank, Children’s Services Society, or the Charity of their choice.

lt Lake City, UT.