Former WLS-AM 890 news reporter Jim Johnson has died, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Johnson spent nearly five decades working for the Chicago news/talk station. He joined the station in 1968 after graduating from the University of Illinois, and stayed until retiring in 2013.
“He was the perfect newsman for a radio talk show,” former colleague Roe Conn told the Sun-Times. “He really does care about getting it right.”
In 2019, Johnson was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s two days after his sister died from the same ailment.
“He handled this entire diagnosis with such grace and courage and humility,” his daughter said. “He said, ‘I’m not going to ask, why me? Because why not me? Things happen to everyone.’ I found that so powerful. He was sweet until the very end.”
The former WLS-AM 890 reporter was 80 years old.
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