Gene Chamberlin, 75, of Ames, IA, died July 20 at the Green Hills Care Center in Ames after battling Parkinson’s disease for several years.
Lawrence Eugene (Gene) Chamberlin was born July 21, 1933, in Mapleton, IA, to Francis and Bessie (Beymer) Chamberlin. He graduated from Mapleton High School in 1951 and received a journalism degree from Iowa State University in 1954. He married Margaret (Margy) Cole on August 14, 1955, in Iowa Falls, IA.
After two years in the U.S. Army, he worked at newspapers in Monticello, IA, and Canton, SD. The family moved to Mobridge, SD, and purchased the Mobridge Tribune July 1, 1964, realizing Gene’s boyhood dream of owning his own newspaper at age 30.
During his years in Mobridge, the Tribune won many awards at state and national newspaper contests. Gene was also active in the South Dakota Newspaper Association, serving as president in 1974-75. Gene and Margy started and endowed the Mobridge Tribune-South Dakota State University journalism internship and scholarship program in 1969.
The Chamberlins moved to Brookings in 1989, where Gene continued his newspaper consulting business and taught newspaper management for the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at South Dakota State University. He spearheaded the expansion and remodeling of the Journalism Building at SDSU in the late 1990s. He received the National Newspaper Association Outstanding Service Award and was named to the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame.
In 2001, Gene and Margy moved to Ames, IA, to be closer to family. The Chamberlins are also active in journalism education at Iowa State University with their funding of the annual Chamberlin Lecture. Gene was a Rotary Club member for more than 45 years, and was president in Canton and Mobridge.
In addition to his wife Margy, he is survived by his daughter Cathy (Doug) Engstrom of Johnston, IA, and son Steve (Mary) Chamberlin of Cedar Rapids, IA, and one granddaughter, Sarah Engstrom of Johnston. His parents, two brothers and one sister preceded him in death.
Services will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 29 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames. Memorials may be made to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation.
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Deputy Attorney General Diane Best received a special award of recognition for her work on open government issues from 2008-09 SDNA President Mark Roby, right, during Newspaper Day at Pierre this past winter. Attorney General Larry Long, left, recently was named by Gov. Mike Rounds to a circuit court judge position in Sioux Falls. During his tenure as attorney general, Long advanced many open government issues, including creation of the open meetings commission and a comprehensive study of open records issues that ultimately led to 2009 landmark open records legislation.