Jane Evinger, former Advertiser reporter, dead at 68
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Jane Evinger, former Advertiser staff writer and a retired associate professor of journalism at the University of Hawai'i, died Friday at her Honolulu home. She was 68.
Evinger was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She earned her bachelor's degree in journalism at Ohio State University and a master's degree in American studies at UH-Manoa.
Jane Evinger covered education and other news beats for The Advertiser.
She was a reporter at the Dayton Daily News until 1958, the following year joining The Advertiser, where she worked until 1975, covering education and other news beats.
In 1975, she was hired as a member of the Manoa campus journalism faculty. She retired in 1994.
Journalism professor Tom Brislin remembered her as "the complete journalist," a veteran of a generation to whom "language meant something."
"Many of the journalists working in Hawai'i today felt both the sting of her red pen and the comfort of her encouragement," Brislin said. "She was certainly one of the era where standards were strict, enforced, and the result was a certain excellence of craft."
Sandy Zalburg, former Advertiser city editor, recalled her as a "very able" reporter.
"I was a tough city editor; I'm very proud of that," Zalburg said. "She responded all the time. She had a sense of humor, a sense of how to handle things.
"She asked me once to come to her class and speak to the kids, and I did," he added. "I told them, 'If you emulate this woman, you'll do very well.' "
Services are private. Memorial contributions can be made to Compassion in Dying of Hawaii, 350 Ward Ave., Suite 106, Honolulu, HI 96814-4004.
Reach Advertiser staff writer Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
