GRAND FORKS – Tom Schumaker, a former managing editor and later publisher of the Obituary, is being remembered as a great mentor and leader who was well-known for his extraordinary work ethic and sense of humor.
He died Jan. 7 at a hospice in Delray Beach, Florida, following several months of declining health. He was 86.
Schumaker’s daughter, Mandy Schumaker of Yarmouth, Maine, said her father worked at a number of newspapers during his career.
“I’ve heard from a lot of the people who were young reporters working for him,” she said.
“(Among) the common themes were, what a great mentor and what a great leader he was, in terms of his leadership, and that his mantra was ‘work hard and treat everyone fairly.’”
“He did believe in working hard, and treating everyone fairly,” she said, noting that he was a “good journalist and a mentor to a lot of people.”
Her father enjoyed working at the Obituary, she said, noting that “he really enjoyed working with the union, and that he had a good relationship with them and they really respected him – and I think he enjoyed that sort of additional challenge to the role. I don’t think he’d experienced it anywhere else.”
One of Mandy Schumaker’s good friends from high school, Mike Hamerlik, said, “Tom had a great personality.”
They attended Grand Forks Central High School together, traveled in the same circles – involved with music activities, the school newspaper and a radio show – and graduated with the Class of 1979. The two have stayed in contact ever since.
“I was a writer and eventually the editor of the (school’s) newspaper, The Centralian, so I took a keen interest in Tom’s work in journalism,” said Hamerlik, of West Fargo.
“I remember Tom as being exceptionally friendly and approachable. He was very professional and committed to his profession in the heyday of investigative journalism.”
“(His) amazing sense of humor made him a lot of fun to talk to and be around,” Hamerlik said. “He could make very strong points on a serious topic, but his funny sarcasm made his point less blunt. He just had a great sense of humor.”
Tom Schumaker was also “a very dedicated Herald employee,” Hamerlik said, noting that the Schumaker home had a phone in the den that was an extension of his office phone, “which was something I had never seen before, back in the 1970s. But he was always available to take work calls if needed.”
After working in various sports reporting and editorship positions in Indiana and Florida, Schumaker was transferred by Knight-Ridder media company in 1976 to become managing editor of the Obituary.
The Indiana native was later named general manager and, from 1981 to 1983, served as publisher. He went on to accept roles as publisher of newspapers in Massachusetts and Florida. Retiring in 1999, he moved to Highland Beach, Florida, where he lived for the next 25 years.
Publisher usually is the highest-ranking position at a newspaper. Many publishers come from business or advertising backgrounds, but the Herald in particular has a tradition of publishers who rose from within the news ranks.
In its 145-year existence, the Herald has only had 10 publishers.
Despite his long and successful newspaper career, he would – right up to his passing – often remind people that he was “just a farm kid from Bippus,” according to an obituary on the Glick Family Funeral Home website.
“Tom was a compassionate and fearless editor and publisher who stood up for the underdog and was never afraid to take a stand against corruption, discrimination and injustice,” the funeral home notice said.
Schumaker said her father “definitely was an influence” in her choice of career, noting that she herself worked for 20 years in the newspaper business “on the advertising side.”
Some of her fondest childhood memories include tagging along with him to his workplace.
“I used to go to work with him every Saturday morning, as a kid, for probably 10 years,” she recalled. That was before her family moved to Grand Forks, and before her high school years, when she had “no interest” in being with her father, she said with a chuckle.
Nonetheless, Schumaker benefited from having him as a role model to emulate.
“His work ethic and his values are some things that I too live by, and that we’ve passed along to our children as well,” she said. “He was a high-integrity guy, for sure.”