Daily Egyptian MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
Daily Egyptian editor who helped create Gus Bode dies at 80 MICHAEL MAYO South Florida Sun Sentinel
Gene Cryer, who was the Daily Egyptian’s editor-in-chief during the creation of Gus Bode in 1956, died Saturday at 80 after complications from a stroke. Cryer went on to become editor of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. With his booming voice, steely eyes and a red pencil that would mark up the daily newspaper with withering critiques, Cryer cast an intimidating presence over the Sun Sentinel newsroom he led in the 1980s and 1990s. Fictitious character Gus Bode, a short, shaggy-haired undergraduate, was first referenced in the April 13, 1956 issue of the Daily Egyptian when the newspaper was still called “The Egyptian.” Under the bolded subhead, “Gus Bode Says--” read, “We hear the recruiting officers had slim pickings here last term. The grades must have been better than expected.” At first, SIU student Jim Stumpf and his friends would write “Gus Bode was here” all over campus. But during Cryer’s time as the paper’s top editor, the Egyptian decided to use Gus as a way to add editorial comments to the paper. At that point, Gus was not a drawn cartoon. Then in 1963, the same year the paper became the “Daily Egyptian,” Gus was illustrated by the late Dee Alexander. Morris native Cryer, who graduated from SIU with a degree in journalism, was remembered as the consummate editor, journalist and community leader. “He expected and demanded perfection,” said Earl Maucker, who served as managing editor under Cryer for 14 years. “He used to say, ‘We’re not a writer’s paper, we’re not an editor’s paper, we’re a reader’s
Gus Bode
paper.’ Everything he did was with the readers’ best interests in mind.” Cryer guided the Sun Sentinel from a sleepy Fort Lauderdale newspaper into a regional media force. He came to the Fort Lauderdale News in 1979 from Rockford. In 1982, the two newspapers merged and Cryer was tapped to lead the combined newsroom. He oversaw a period of explosive growth in the region, expanding the newspaper with bureaus in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami and West Palm Beach. He also hired young, ambitious reporters who would become renowned authors, including Mitch Albom, Michael Connelly and John Grogan. Since his 1994 retirement as Sun Sentinel editor and vice president, Cryer lived in Plantation and wrote eight books. He remained active by riding, exhibiting and breeding Appaloosa show horses, mentoring writers and recording audiobooks for Insight for the Blind. “That deep, bellowing voice could command a room,” said his son, Scott Cryer, of Reston, Va. “In his final years he put it to good use by working with Insight for the Blind. It gave him a sense of purpose.” Scott Cryer was bedside in his father’s hospital room in his final days, talking sports and sharing emails from friends and former colleagues. “In a way, he got to hear his own eulogy,” Scott Cryer said. “He was a self-made man,” said his daughter, Patty Shepherd Korchak. “He came from humble beginnings — his father was an auto mechanic during the Great Depression in Illinois — and with hard work he made himself a great career.” Cryer was meticulous and wellprepared, even to the end. On Saturday, Scott found an envelope in his father’s home office marked “For my obits.” It contained his resume, the biography he used for his books and a photocopy of his entry in “Who’s Who In America.” “I’ve heard the stories about him in the newsroom — a lot of tough love and compliments could be hard to come by,” Scott Cryer said. “He was the same way as a dad. You knew he was proud of you, but he rarely stated it.” To read more, please see dailyegyptian.com
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VOL. 100 ISSUE 78
Covered by color
Jacob Wiegand | @JacobWiegand_DE Walker Suhr, 13, a seventh grader at Brehm Preparatory School in Carbondale, prepares to be covered in red chalk during the 2016 Autism Color Fun Run/Walk on Saturday near the Lew Hartzog Track & Field Complex. Ashley Showalter, secretary for the southern Illinois chapter of the Autism Society of Illinois, which sponsored the event, said the event’s purpose was to raise awareness and money to fund families in southern Illinois who have a family member affected by autism. “It’s good to raise money for people that are in need,” Suhr said. “This is a fun way to help them.”
SIU student meets with Rauner to discuss legislation that would affect transgender students EVAN JONES | @EvanJones_DE
The process of using the bathroom may seem like a task that doesn’t require much thought. But for the transgender community in 10 states, including Illinois, it could become more challenging. Finn de Lima, who is transitioning his sex from female to male, met with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday to discuss House Bills 6073 and 4474. De Lima, a freshman from Boca Raton, Fla., studying art therapy, said he is in favor of bill 6073, which would allow an individual to change the sex designation on his or her birth certificate with the permission of a licensed medical or mental health professional. He will have surgery for the top half of his body in June in Florida. However, bill 4474 would make
individuals use school’s designated bathrooms with the corresponding sex identified at birth by the person’s anatomy. “In [Boca Raton] I established the first unisex bathroom at the school,” de Lima said. “It was almost segregating us, but that school was still very hostile, so if you wanted a safe space and you just didn’t feel safe that was the only place to go.” Through LGBTQ advocacy groups Equality Illinois and the Rainbow Cafe, de Lima was able to meet with Rauner to express his thoughts on the bills. Rauner remained quiet throughout most of the meeting, de Lima said, allowing his visitors to speak their minds. “The more I talked the more frustrated I got,” de Lima said. “It’s 2016, why is this still an issue?” Bill 6073 passed in a House
committee by a 8-6 vote. House Bill 4474, which also says the school board must designate a singleoccupancy restroom for students, did not make it through the House Committee and was sent back to the rules committee. Tara Bell-Janowick, Rainbow Cafe’s community relations director, said bill 4474 looks good on paper, but would isolate the transgender community. “This bill would force the transgender community to use their own, separate bathrooms,” said Bell-Janowick, who joined de Lima in Springfield on Wednesday. “It’s basically saying they are broken. Imagine just trying to fit in and you are forced to use different facilities.” De Lima said he wasn’t nervous about meeting the governor because he was prepared and considered Rauner just another person. Please see STUDENTS | 2