John E. Gottschalk

John E. Gottschalk

Former Omaha World Herald publisher and CEO, John Gottschalk, was laid to rest in a private family funeral at Heafey-Hoffmann-Dworak-Cutler Mortuary.  John is survived by his high-school sweetheart and wife, Carmen; daughter, Jodi and Christina (Steve); grandchildren, Austin, Cora, Lula, and Grady; brother, Michael (Wanda) and sister, Lynn (Dana).  John’s contributions to the community were numerous and widely documented.  The family requests that in lieu of flowers, well-wishers contribute to a charity of their choosing, in honor of his legacy.

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John Gottschalk, who rose from back-shop worker for a small-town Nebraska newspaper to publisher of the Omaha World-Herald and leadership in local, state and national causes, died at his Omaha home Sunday while in hospice care after an extended illness. He was 81.

Gottschalk joined The World-Herald in 1975, became publisher and CEO in 1989 and retired as chairman in 2008. His extensive civic life included such varied positions as chairman of the USO Board of Governors, president of the Boy Scouts of America and chairman of Omaha Performing Arts.

He was known for his high energy.

“I don’t see any sense of sitting around, wailing and moaning about the terrible conditions of mankind,” Gottschalk once said. “Get off your chair and go do something about it. People are tremendously powerful. You can have an impact.”

A private family service is pending, as well as a memorial service later. He is survived by his wife, Carmen, and by daughters Jodi Taylor and Tina Gottschalk, both of Omaha, Tina’s huband, Steve Festner, and grandchildren, Cora, Elise and Grady Festner, and by grandson Austin Taylor of Los Angeles, as well as by his brother, Mike Gottschalk of Omaha, and sister Lynn Roper of Lincoln.

John Gottschalk’s longtime fishing buddy and business adviser, Mike McCarthy, said he has always aspired to be as committed to the community and state as Gottschalk. “He was relentless,” McCarthy said. “Whatever needed to be done, John was there.”

He was raised by parents Phil and Mary Jane Gottschalk in the northwest Nebraska town of Rushville (population 1,200), about 400 miles from Omaha. His maternal grandfather, Bill Barnes, had founded the weekly Sheridan County Star in nearby Gordon. Phil became the owner and publisher, with his wife sharing the workload. In his youth, John performed a variety of duties there.

In high school, he worked a summer ranch job in the Sandhills, played quarterback in the fall and began dating Carmen Beck, his future wife. For three summers in Rushville, he and his two siblings operated a hamburger and ice cream stand.

A boyhood acquaintance in Rushville was Chuck Hagel, future U.S. senator from Nebraska and later the U.S. Secretary of Defense. In the 1980s, Hagel recruited Gottschalk to serve on the board of the USO, which assists military families, and they remained friends.

“John lived a very purposeful, meaningful, fantastic life,” Hagel said. “He was authentic, positive, smart and encouraging. And he was always honest and very clear.”

Gottschalk majored in political science and journalism at the University of Nebraska and served as president of Phi Gamma Delta, where a fraternity brother was another future U.S. senator, Bob Kerrey. During a college summer, Kerrey lived with the Gottschalks in Rushville while working a pharmacy internship.

Through their elected years, Democrat Kerrey and Republican Hagel said, Gottschalk never asked for a political favor but always spoke directly.

“I always could count on John to tell me the truth, even if it was not something I wanted to hear,” Kerrey said. “He had a set of core values, and he lived them. He was just a remarkable human being.”

At 25, Gottschalk bought the Sidney, Nebraska, Telegraph. He also was mayor of Sidney from 1972 to 1974, which led to ticklish situations.

“I like to tell the story of getting hammered on the editorial page as mayor twice by the editor,” Gottschalk said years ago. “And once he was right.” The editor was Frank Partsch, who later spent more than two decades as editor of The World-Herald’s editorial pages.

After joining The World-Herald in 1975, Gottschalk oversaw the conversion to the era’s modern technology — articles would be written and edited on computer terminals instead of on paper in typewriters, with efficiencies also in digital typesetting.

In 1980, he was named vice president and guided the company’s acquisition of suburban weeklies and other subsidiaries. In 1985, he was elected president and chief operating officer. And in 1989, he succeeded Harold W. Andersen and became the fifth publisher of the newspaper.

That year, a downtown power outage on a Saturday night shut down the presses. Carrying out a cooperative emergency plan, The World-Herald printed its Sunday editions at Council Bluffs and Lincoln newspapers, with Gottschalk personally directing production.

A few days later, a reporter quipped to Gottschalk at an office coffee machine that it had been great on that Saturday night “seeing the general in the trenches working with the privates and getting his hands dirty.”

Gottschalk replied with a smile: “The dirtier they get, the better I like it.”

In the 1990s, The World-Herald began publishing an online edition while also continuing its print editions. In 2001, the newspaper opened a $125 million downtown printing plant, which executives later named the John Gottschalk Freedom Center.

McCarthy said Gottschalk could have built the plant in the suburbs at less cost. But with the agreement of the newspaper’s board, he chose a downtown site — just as Bruce Lauritzen of First National Bank built a new office tower nearby instead of in west Omaha. “They were both catalysts,” McCarthy said, “for the preservation of our downtown.”

Michael B. Yanney, a former chairman of riverfront development, said that when he and fellow business and civic leader Walter Scott asked Gottschalk to lead the fundraising for what became the downtown Holland Performing Arts Center, he readily agreed. “As a community leader,” Yanney said, “you couldn’t find better.”

Gottschalk served as the longtime chairman of Omaha Performing Arts and helped plan and raise about $100 million for the renovation of the Orpheum Theater and, especially, for construction of the performing arts center. With a lead donation from Richard and Mary Holland, it opened in fall 2005.

“We would not be here today without John’s leadership,” said Joan Squires, O-pa president. “I’m going to miss him as a stalwart and as a mentor and friend. His vision to develop a master plan for our campus also led to the Steelhouse (performance venue) and to the Tenaska Center for Arts Engagement that will open in 2026.”

Gottschalk’s passion was education. He served as chairman of the Omaha 2000 education steering committee and initiated the newspaper’s academic all-star teams like those in athletics. The academic honors continue in an annual special section.

Near the end of his time as publisher, Gottschalk worked behind the scenes to help resolve a public controversy pitting the urban Omaha Public Schools against suburban school districts. The dispute drew intense scrutiny, including in the Legislature, which eventually set up a two-county “learning community” that required cooperation while retaining each district’s independence.

“John held all of us accountable for getting together and working out a solution,” recalled Ken Bird, then the Westside Schools superintendent. “He had strong values and beliefs in education, but he did not impose solutions on us. We had to figure it out.”

Gottschalk stepped down as World-Herald publisher and CEO at the end of 2007, but agreed to stay a year as chairman. Friends surprised him at an over-the-top retirement party that included marching bands, Miss America and a parade of widely known citizens.

“There’s no question that John was a giant in Omaha and in Nebraska,” said Terry Kroeger, who succeeded him as publisher and now is in private business. “He left his mark, and I learned a lot from him.”

The World-Herald was the nation’s largest employee-owned newspaper until it was purchased in 2011 by Warren Buffett and his Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway. Lee Enterprises began managing the paper in 2018 and bought it from Buffett in 2021.

In 2020, Gottschalk published his authorized biography, by George Ayoub, titled “Confluence: John Gottschalk’s Life of Duty, Service and the Business of News.”

John and Carmen Gottschalk dedicated themselves to philanthropy, often quietly supporting charities. They volunteered as foster parents for the Child Saving Institute, caring for more than 100 infants awaiting adoption.

Among Gottschalk’s other board memberships were the Joslyn Art Museum, the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium, Creighton University, the Peter Kiewit Institute, the Omaha Symphony, the Nebraska Game and Parks Foundation, the National Benevolent Association, Pheasants Forever and Heritage Services. In 2012, he served eight months as interim president of the University of Nebraska Foundation.

An inductee in the Omaha Business Hall of Fame and the Nebraska Press Association Hall of Fame, Gottschalk was recognized in 1994 for his civic leadership and philanthropy by being named as the 98th King of Aksarben. He also served on corporate boards, including for Cabela’s, Pacific Life, the McCarthy Group Inc. and Election Systems and Software Inc.

He was an avid fly fisherman who enjoyed spending time amid the Grand Tetons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He also loved the Nebraska Sandhills, and was the primary donor for the 2014 rebuilding of the Modisett Ballpark in the town where he grew up. Said his friend McCarthy: “John never forgot Rushville and Sidney.”

Over the past year, with Gottschalk aware that his memory was faltering, Ken Bird invited about 20 friends one at a time — from government, politics, entertainment, education and elsewhere — to lunch chats with Gottschalk about facets of his life.

“John just lit up,” Bird said. “And when I’d drop him off at home, he’d smile and say, ‘How’d I do?’”

–Courtesy of The Omaha World Herald, November 4, 2024.