Longtime Chicago television political news reporter Jack Conaty liked to drink a diet Coca-Cola before he went on air to get his energy up.
He understood the weight of occupational gusto.
He was a high school English teacher before switching gears and pursuing journalism. The educational background, colleagues said, allowed him to deliver complex news stories in a way that was concise and easy to understand.
In 1987 he landed a gig with Fox Chicago WFLD-Channel 32 after cutting his teeth in Florida, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.
Mr. Conaty covered everything from local and state politics to political conventions and Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
“He wasn’t in it to get a better table at La Scarola. He was an old-school roll up your shirt sleeves and get to the kernel of truth reporter,” said his former Fox colleague Lilia Chacon, who noted Mr. Conaty’s biting wit.
Mr. Conaty died Aug. 28, at a hospital in Arizona from complications due to cancer. He was 77.
“He was so funny and clever and fast that even if you were the target of his ridicule you’d have to laugh,” Chacon said.
In addition to covering daily news, Mr. Conaty, who retired in 2009, hosted the Sunday morning political talk show “Fox Chicago Perspectives.”
“His guests on the show, they were afraid to come back because it wasn’t softballs Jack was lobbing; he was asking public servants ‘What have you done for me lately?’” said Chacon, who described a bustling 1980s newsroom filled with back-and-forth discussion.
“It was just freewheeling, and you really had to hold your own,” she said, picturing Mr. Conaty drinking coffee and rocking back and forth on chairs that were not designed to rock back and forth, constantly breaking them. “We kept each other on our toes. You couldn’t just make a statement with Jack without backing it up. It was very lively, and frankly, I loved the man. Behind all the cynicism, he was so extremely kind and in love with his two daughters and so proud of them.”
While covering the Iowa caucuses in 1996, Mr. Conaty ducked into a steakhouse in Des Moines after a late broadcast and saw every major network news anchor from around the country grabbing dinner.
“Jack looked at me and said ‘Kid, if a bomb hit this restaurant, every major job in the industry would be open,” Jason Erkes, his former producer, recalled with a laugh.
“He called me ‘kid’ and everyone called him the ‘old man’ around the newsroom, not because of his age, but because of his wisdom and gray hair, and because he could be both friendly and grumpy,” Erkes said.
Mr. Conaty’s work was recognized with numerous awards, including three Chicago Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award.
“Jack was cut out for TV. He had this laser focus that connected with the lens, and a great voice, and he could say things so concisely, but you could also hand him a mic and ask him to fill four or five minutes off the cuff just talking about something like Dan Rostenkowski’s past, and he could do that with ease,” said his former colleague Larry Yellen.
Mr. Conaty, who lived in Wilmette and River North during his time at Fox, loved bringing his daughters to the newsroom on Take Your Kid To Work Day.
“I remember I was in a little cute dress when I was 6 or 7, and he let me sit in the control room at the station, and I saw how fast everything was moving and just getting to see how he worked and how different that kind of job is from a traditional 9-to-5 desk job,” his daughter Katherine Conaty said.
“He was really serious about the importance of journalism in our society,” she said.
Going to the movies and driving Mr. Conaty’s golf cart when he’d take his daughters golfing are also cherished memories, Katherine said.
Mr. Conaty was born Sept. 26, 1946, in Connecticut and grew up in a suburb of New Haven. He attended Notre Dame High School in West Haven and went to college at Providence College in Rhode Island.
After six years of teaching high school English, he enrolled at the University of Missouri to study journalism but left early to take a job with a television station in Tampa, Florida.
In addition to his daughter Katherine, Mr. Conaty is survived by his wife, Tinsley Deibel; another daughter, Eliza; and his siblings Helen Conaty and Jean Conaty.
A private service is being planned.
