It was with great sadness I heard of the passing of Scott Schmidt, who ran the former Chicago Today newspaper, was also a managing editor of the Chicago Tribune and ultimately turned around the Valley News and Green Sheet in suburban Los Angeles (Obituaries, Dec. 20). He was a great newspaperman who loved his craft.
But none of the obituaries I read mentioned his stint as a professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where I met him and had the honor of being one of his students. Of all the professors I had at Northwestern, he is the one most remembered and most revered because he took the time to make courses exacting and interesting.
I still may not be able to write a world-class sentence, but I can copy read with the best of them courtesy of Scott Schmidt, who took a potentially dull topic and made it exciting. I used to trade computer cards just to get into his teaching sections, knowing how worthwhile they would be.
I am only sorry that I never had the pleasure to work for him.
Long out of school, I went out of my way to look him up and was thrilled to find him, as it started a great friendship, most of it via e-mail. He always had a joke for me. He never ended his interest in Illinois politics, always keeping up with them besides his other duties.
I will miss him as a friend but will treasure the memories of a great teacher. Yes, there are teachers who do influence a life, and Scott Schmidt did that for me. He demanded excellence and taught that to his students. I have tried to live up to his standards ever since.
