Joseph W. Shoquist

Joseph W. Shoquist believed that good ethics made for good journalism. To that end, Shoquist, then managing editor of The Milwaukee Journal, wrote the ethics code for the editorial staff in 1973. Later, as chairman of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association's professional standards committee, he wrote its code of ethics. Patterned after The Journal's, it was widely adopted at newspapers throughout the country. "I would hope," he once said, "that somebody would remember me for trying to maintain a high standard of ethics and honesty in our business." Shoquist died of complications of Alzheimer's disease Saturday, February 27, 2010, in Columbia, S.C. He was 84. "He was an extremely ethical person, and that was one of the reasons he epitomized good journalism," said Howard Fibich, who retired as The Journal's deputy managing editor. "He was just a super guy and a super editor." Born and raised in small-town Lone Tree, Iowa - population 650 - Shoquist's entire career was more the result of happenstance than anything else. He was actually interested in medicine or dentistry, but lacked money for that much study and the confidence to pursue science. An aptitude test in college identified strengths in writing and communication. His older sister, Jean Hughes Wright, then a journalism major working at an Iowa City paper, told him to try journalism. He served with the U.S. Army in 1946 and 1947 and was editor of the post newspaper at Fort Knox, Ky. Shoquist graduated from the University of Iowa in 1948. He worked a couple of sports editor jobs, including at the Idaho Falls Post-Register, where he met the former Dorothy Ormond, a receptionist. They married in 1951. He next earned a master's degree, taught college journalism, and joined the Milwaukee Sentinel as a copy editor in 1954. The next year, he took a copy editing job at The Milwaukee Journal. Promotions followed, finally to managing editor in 1967. Shoquist maintained that his life should not influence news decisions, and that other people's lives were far more interesting and important. More interested in hunting, fishing and hiking, he preferred what he called "an obscure life." "Partly it's my disposition and personality, but more importantly it's my conviction that editors should not be involved, excessively, in public activities," Shoquist had said. "I don't think there's any way you can avoid influencing the news operation if you are involved even in things that might seem innocuous. They're still probably going to get more public attention than they deserve if the boss is involved in them." That was her father, agreed daughter Sally Shoquist. "He didn't thrive on any sort of spotlight at all," she said. "There were parts of him that were quiet and gentle - and others that were very opinionated." As the newspaper expanded coverage for minority segments of the Milwaukee community, he knew that some majority readers didn't like what they were seeing. "It's important from an economic standpoint that we interest more blacks and Hispanics in the paper," he had said. "From a moral standpoint, I would regard it as utterly unacceptable to forgo that part of the population as some papers have done." Shoquist served on minority committees for the APME and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The important thing, he said, was "practicing good journalism." "I believe that's the way we maintain a strong, free press," he had said. "You don't do it by public relations campaigns or a lot of hoopla." In 1986, Shoquist became dean of the College of Journalism at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. He retired in 1991. His wife, Dorothy, died in 2002. In addition to his daughter and sister, survivors include son Paul and sister Carol Wolford. A service was held in Columbia, S.C. A Graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 30, 2010, at the Rigby Pioneer Cemetery, under the care of Eckersell Memorial Chapel in Rigby.