Jeanne May posthumously elected to Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame

(Forwarded by Dave McKay)

Free Press reporter is given honor

By PATRICIA CHARGOT
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Jeanne May, a longtime Detroit Free Press reporter, has been posthumously
elected to the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.
She and four other members of the Class of 2007 will be inducted April 14 at
Michigan State University's Kellogg Center. The others are Cheryl Pell,
executive director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association; WJR-AM
reporter Gene Fogel; WJBK-TV reporter Anne Doyle, and documentarian, broadcast
reporter and Michigan State University professor Susan Carter.
"This is a stellar group of professionals who have earned their place in the
Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame," said Jane Briggs-Bunting, the hall's
chairperson.

This is the first year that the majority of the inductees are women, she said.
May, who was 73 when she died in 2005, worked at the Free Press for almost a
quarter century, initially as a chief copy editor. In 1983, she surprised herself and her
colleagues by returning to reporting - for the first time since the 1950s.
She quickly distinguished herself at everything from spot news to light
features to major investigative projects.
In 1990, May helped report and write "Workers at Risk," a series on dangerous
working conditions and injuries at nonunion plants supplying parts to the Big
Three automakers. The series won several honors, including the grand prize in
the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards.
In her late 60s, May again distinguished herself by writing hundreds of
gem-like obituaries. In 2004, she touched many lives with "Michigan's Fallen
Heroes," profiling all 21 of the state's soldiers who died in Iraq the previous
year.
Contact PATRICIA CHARGOT at 734-665-3257 or chargot@freepress.com.