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I worked in the Journal newsroom for 24 years, about 20 of which beside Fritz Busch. During that time, I met many writers from whom I learned many, many different tricks of the trade. Some wrote with enviable flair, others with concise clarity. Longtime Journal editor Kevin Sweeney, with both. But almost never, or perhaps simply never, did I meet a reporter with a more brightly burning passion for news. Fritz is a news hound. No news is uninteresting to him. He simply sniffs out the quirky, the clever, the silly, the sublime… Or perhaps news finds him. Fritz would tread through a burned-out field to get to a fire, rise and run in the dead of night at the wail of a siren, somehow find himself in the vortex of an impassioned public debate… Camera strapped across his body, notebook in hand, Fritz is an old-style reporter, a model they discontinued a while back.
Fritz is also an artist. His nose for news somewhat misdirects attention away from that talent. The gifted photographer goes unnoticed. But with his eye for composition, with his ability to tell a story through the lens, he fits in with the magazine giants of print media's heyday.
But the most memorable thing about Fritz is his heart. His love and devotion to fellow military vets. To his community. To humanity. That's the most difficult aspect of him to scope or replicate.
The word "retirement" sits right next to the phrase "senior citizen" in my personal hall of shame. I hate these euphemisms with a passion. None of my friends ever "retired" to fade away from public life. I suspect neither will Fritz. He is simply incapable of not caring. He will serve his fellow humans till a higher call takes him home.
Kremi Spengler
New Ulm
-- Kremi Spengler is a former news editor of the Journal.