Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises will soon lose one of its longtime top officials.
Mary Junck, 78, the former chairman of the Lee Board of Directors, is retiring from the board effective Friday, July 31.
The retirement was announced in a July 7 form filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The retirement is coming a few months after David Hoffmann announced $50 million in investments in Lee, and took over as the chairman of the Lee Enterprises Board of Directors.
Mr. Hoffmann is a renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist. As the founder and chairman of Hoffmann Family of Companies, he oversees a family-owned network of enterprises that employs over 17,000 people worldwide. This network includes more than 200 distinct brands and properties spanning 30 countries.
In the Quad Cities region, Lee is the publisher of the Quad-City Times, The Dispatch and Rock Island Argus, and Muscatine Journal newspapers. It publishes more than 70 daily papers and 350 weekly and specialty publications serving 73 markets in 26 U.S. states.
Ms. Junck joined Lee in 1999 as executive vice president and chief operating officer. She became president in 2000, chief executive officer in 2001 and chairman of the board of directors in January 2002. She was executive chairman from 2016 to 2019, before becoming the board chairman of the company.
She previously held senior executive positions at the former Times Mirror Company. As executive vice president of Times Mirror and president of Times Mirror Eastern Newspapers, she was responsible for all newspaper operations in the region, including Newsday, The Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant, The Morning Call, and Southern Connecticut Newspapers. She also had responsibility for Times Mirror magazines and StayWell, Times Mirror’s consumer health company. She held that position from 1997 until she left the company in 1999. From 1993 to 1997, Mary was publisher and chief executive officer of The Baltimore Sun. From 1990 to 1992, she was publisher and president of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, where she had served as president, general manager and senior vice president since 1985.
Ms. Junck began her career at the Charlotte Observer in 1972 as marketing research manager and advanced to retail advertising manager. In 1977, she joined the Miami Herald as advertising marketing manager, and later was promoted to assistant advertising director. She was appointed to the Knight Ridder corporate staff in 1982 and became assistant to the senior vice president of operations.
