Bob Riepenhoff, 7 others inducted into Milwaukee Press Club's Media Hall of Fame

Bob Riepenhoff, former outdoors editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, was inducted posthumously into the Milwaukee Press Club's Media Hall of Fame.

Riepenhoff and seven other inductees were honored Friday in a ceremony at Potawatomi Hotel and Casino in Milwaukee.

The club's 2017 Media Hall of Fame class also included: Mike Anderson of WISN-TV; Mike Gousha, WTMJ and WISN television and Marquette University Law School; Mikel Holt, Milwaukee Community Journal; Garry D. Howard, Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Damien Jaques, Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Myra Sanchick, WITI-TV; and Eric Von (deceased), WMCS-AM.

RELATED:Milwaukee school group passes hunter education test with flying colors

The event was attended by 210 guests and club members.

Riepenhoff, a voracious reader from an early age who grew to be a journalist and writer, is perhaps best remembered by his family, friends and many Wisconsin newspaper readers as a storyteller.

"Over the campfire, toasts at special occasions, around the kitchen table" and in print for both the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the club noted in a biography of Riepenhoff.

He also had a love for Wisconsin's Northwoods, where his grandfather taught him to fish. He returned to the region frequently with his wife and family.

Riepenhoff worked for 31 years at the Milwaukee papers in a variety of roles, including features reporter, federal court reporter, copy editor and outdoors editor, a position he held from 1995 to his retirement in 2007.

Elise Riepenhoff, Bob's wife of more than 30 years, said Bob would sometimes joke with his friend and colleague Dennis Getto, the late restaurant critic at the paper, about who had the better job.

"Bob knew he was blessed to be able to explore the serenity and beauty of nature while hunting and fishing," Elise said. "That was his dream job and he wouldn't have wanted any other."

Elise said Bob took the job very seriously and approached it with a commitment to honesty, accuracy and eloquence.

In 2002, Riepenhoff was among a team of Journal Sentinel journalists that produced a series on chronic wasting disease, a wildlife scourge affecting white-tailed deer found in Wisconsin earlier that year.

The work was later honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Ripenhoff's columns also won awards from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. And he authored a book titled "Net Results: Great Fishing Spots in Southern Wisconsin."

Riepenhoff grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University High School and UW-Milwaukee, where he majored in English and minored in journalism. 

Riepenhoff died of leukemia in 2012 at the age of 61.

Elise said Bob would most want to be remembered for his "desire to connect his readers with the wonder and tranquility of nature that he treasured."

Riepenhoff also now has a unique distinction — he joins his grandfather, Jeremiah O’Sullivan, as a member of the Press Club's Hall of Fame. O'Sullivan, inducted posthumously in 1982, was the first dean of Marquette University's School of Journalism and led it for more than 30 years.

In addition to Elise, Riepenhoff is survived by their three sons, Rob, John and Joe, two daughters-in-law and six grandchildren.

The Milwaukee Press Club was founded in 1885 and is the oldest continuously operating press club in North America. It has 250 members.

The organization started its Media Hall of Fame in 1980. Other honorees include Mel Ellis, Bill Janz, Gordon MacQuarrie and Carl Sandburg.

Sturgeon license deadline approaches: Oct. 31 is the deadline to purchase licenses for the 2018 Lake Winnebago sturgeon spearing season.

The spearing seasons open Feb. 10 on Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes. Participation in the Upriver Lakes season is determined by lottery.

The seasons will run for 16 days or until protective harvest caps are reached. The limits will be set this month when Department of Natural Resources biologists meet with the Winnebago Citizens Sturgeon Advisory Committee.

Spearers registered 847 sturgeon during the 2017 seasons, including 552 from Lake Winnebago and 295 from the Upriver Lakes. The numbers were down from averages over the last decade due to relatively poor water clarity and deteriorating ice conditions last year.

The harvest included some 13 sturgeon that weighed more than 130 pounds, including Gerald Peterson's 83.4-inch, 154.9 pound sturgeon and Sandra Schumacher's 78.5-inch, 154.7 pound fish.

The Winnebago System is home to one of the largest populations of lake sturgeon in North America. Through careful and science-based management, in conjunction with input from citizens and conservation groups, the DNR oversees the continent's largest recreational sturgeon harvest through a unique winter spear fishery that dates to the 1930s.

Sturgeon spearing licenses are $20 for residents and $65 for nonresidents and can be purchased by visiting GoWild.Wi.gov or at license sales outlets.