Longtime Mercury News reporter Frank Sweeney dies at 78 – East Bay Times

During his 37-year career at Mercury News, Frank Sweeney built a reputation as a journalist capable of covering all of the day’s news that crossed his office.

“Sweeney was a go-to contributor who could always deliver well-researched, easy-to-read stories on any topic and deliver them before the deadline,” recalls former colleague Lou Calvert of their days together at the newspaper.

Sweeney, who retired in 2004, died on August 22, 2021 of complications from a rare neuromuscular disease. He was 78 years old. Survivors include his 50-year-old wife, Sharon Klino Sweeney.

His versatility has been recognized by the senior officers of the newspaper. “Frank, I think it’s fair to say, can write about anything. And after 37 years he certainly did – crime, politics, science, environment… the list goes on, ”Bert Robinson, the newspaper’s current editor, wrote in an email to staff announcing Sweeney’s retirement. .

The stories Sweeney wrote over the years spanned a wide range of topics, from repairs to the roof of Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton to the kidnappings of Chowchilla in 1976.

But, as Robinson would go on to acknowledge, the seasoned journalist also had specific areas of expertise. A pilot himself, Sweeney enjoyed covering Reno air races and was the newspaper’s aviation expert. He has also become its authoritative spokesperson on water and weather issues.

In the late 1990s, when Mercury News executives showed an extraordinary interest in weather, for example, it was Sweeney who handled most of the stories – from routine coverage to coverage of major storms. and explanatory articles on the complex El Niño system.

Jan Null, a veteran meteorologist who split his career between the National Weather Service and his own consulting firm, Golden Gate Weather Services, credited Sweeney with the inspiration for research into the deadly heat inside an automobile in summer.

“In 2001, I got a call from Frank. He said that a 5 month old child died in a hot car in San Jose, ”Null recalls. “He asked me how hot it could be in that car.”

Null said he couldn’t find any studies on the subject and started his own, taking the temperature inside his vehicle for two years in a row. “Eventually, I published this with a few emergency physicians from Stanford at the American Academy of Pediatrics. This article is now the world’s leading journal on the subject.

On days when Sweeney was away, other reporters who were assigned a weather report were given a “how-to” guide that he left in the computer system for their convenience.

This illustrates how his peers at the Mercury News remembered Sweeney, who Calvert said was the first reporter hired by the newspaper in 1967 after moving to the old offices on Ridder Park Drive.

Connie Skipitares started working at the newspaper a few years after Sweeney when stories were knocked out on typewriters, not computer screens.

“You couldn’t just hit backspace and erase the words you just typed,” she said. “I was always making mistakes, pulling copy paper out of the typewriter and starting over. Not Franck. He would nail a finished, polished copy from the start. I remember sitting next to him and admiring how easy he looked.

Sweeney was born in Springfield, Illinois on October 26, 1942, and at the age of 9 he moved with his family to Southern California, where they settled in Torrance. After graduating from Serra High School in nearby Gardena in 1960, he enrolled in El Camino College as a Photography Specialist before enlisting in the US Coast Guard Reserve in 1961, eventually becoming a sonarman trained in anti-submarine warfare.

Upon leaving active service, he returned to El Camino as a major in journalism and in 1965 began attending San Jose State University, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He was hired by Mercury News immediately after graduation.

His responsibilities at the newspaper, where he shared the 1990 Pulitzer Prize awarded to staff for his coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake, went beyond reporting to include stints as deputy town editor, editor chief of state, editor of the night city and science editor.

Additionally, he was an active member of the San Jose Newspaper Guild / CWA Local 39098, serving as president in 1980 and other terms as vice president and secretary treasurer. He was also a member of every bargaining committee from 1976 until his retirement.

Luther Jackson, general manager of the Guild from 1995 to 2009, described Sweeney as a thoughtful and thoughtful negotiator who was “always several steps ahead of management. I hope current and retired Guild members enjoy Frank’s role in the health care, pensions and other benefits they receive.

As a pilot, Sweeney spent time in 16 types of aircraft ranging from WWI antiques to Soviet Union and US Navy jet fighters. In retirement, he served as chairman of the San Jose Airport Commission and served on the board of directors of the Aero Club of Northern California.

He also enjoyed fishing, photography and restoring his British sports car, a 1959 MGA he had owned for over half a century.