Retired newspaper editor loved his job

1/19/2001

FREMONT - Glen R. Geib of Melbourne, Fla., formerly of Fremont, a retired editor of the Fremont News-Messenger, died Wednesday in Mariner Health of Atlantic Shores, Melbourne. He was 92.

Mr. Geib died of cancer, his daughter, Mary Ellen Barnett, said. He was a resident of the health center for six months, and had been in declining health for about three years.

A native of New Philadelphia, Ohio, Mr. Geib came to Fremont in 1944 to become the News-Messenger's editor, after stints as a courthouse reporter and sports editor at the Dover, Ohio, Daily Reporter, and as editor of the Circleville, Ohio, Herald.

He retired from the News-Messenger in 1970, but continued with the newspaper as a consultant and as an associate editor until 1973. He went on to handle public relations and was the farm representative for the former Fremont Savings Bank.

Mr. Geib and his wife, Nellie, moved to Florida in 1990. She died in 1992.

“He loved being an editor of a newspaper,” his daughter said.

Mr. Geib handled publicity for War Bond drives in Sandusky County during World War II, helped with the expansion of Memorial Hospital, and was active in the campaign for a flood control program after the Sandusky River flooded the Fremont area in 1959.

Mr. Geib received several awards, including the Sandusky County Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award in 1974, the Sandusky County Young Farmer-Young Farm Wife Award for Distinguished Service to Agriculture for 1983, and the Liberty Bell Award from the Sandusky County Bar Association for his support of law enforcement and the legal profession in 1984.

He was a member of the Hayes United Methodist Church, Fremont, and Suntree United Methodist Church, Melbourne, and sang tenor in church choirs in Ohio and Florida for many years.

Mr. Geib was an avid golfer and had a hole-in-one recorded at the Fremont Country Club, Ms. Barnett said. He also took special pride in producing proteges like Steve Pollick, The Blade outdoors editor, and Joe O'Conor, retired executive editor of The Blade.

“He was my first editor,” Mr. Pollick said. “Many of the best things I learned as a reporter and writer came about because of Glen's guidance, his support, and his willingness to let a young journalist stretch and take risks.”

The late Don Wolfe, an assistant managing editor and a popular columnist for The Blade, noted in 1989 that Mr. Geib had published his memoirs, A Newspaperman's Life in Retrospect. Mr. Wolfe said he believed that Mr. Geib's memoirs highlighted “an interesting and educational career.”

“In Circleville, his biggest story was the 1929 stock market crash, which led to the Great Depression,” Mr. Wolfe wrote in a column. “In Fremont, it was the assassination of President Kennedy.”

Surviving are his son, Gene; daughter, Mary Ellen Barnett; sisters, Marjorie Devers, Mary Lou Baio, and Janice Henry; six grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren, and a great-great-grandson.

There will be no visitation or services. Arrangements were handled by the Brownlee-Maxwell Funeral Home, Melbourne. The family requests tributes to a charity of the donor's choice.