Veteran Chicago newspaper editor Andrea Hanis moved from newsroom to newsroom throughout her career, bringing a creative spirit and a solid set of leadership skills.
After spending more than a decade at the Chicago Sun-Times, she took on editor roles at the Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business and her last job as editor of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.
Along the way, she mentored journalists and collected many close friends who were with her through a difficult 14-month battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Ms. Hanis died Nov. 12 at a Gold Coast rehab facility, her friend Joyce Winnecke said. She was 56.
“She lived and breathed integrity and good journalism,” said Winnecke, who was managing editor at the Sun-Times when Ms. Hanis worked there.
In 11 years at the Sun-Times, Ms. Hanis was travel editor, lifestyles editor and Sunday features editor. Last year, she retired as editor of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin during her cancer treatment.
Ms. Hanis was born in 1969 in Whiting, Indiana. She earned a journalism degree from Indiana University and took a job at the Louisville Courier-Journal before moving to Chicago in 1993 to join the Sun-Times.
Winnecke left the Sun-Times for the Tribune and eventually brought Hanis with her. “We knew that, in addition to being a great journalist, she was a good leader of people,” Winnecke said. That was evident in her leading the Tribune’s Blue Sky Innovation project that sought to reach a new audience for stories about technology and entrepreneurship, Winnecke said.
Ms. Hanis was close to former Sun-Times society columnist Mary Cameron Frey, who retired in 2006, Winnecke said. Ms. Hanis took care of Frey in her final days before she died in 2018.
“Andrea was like an adopted daughter to Mary,” Winnecke said.
Winnecke said Ms. Hanis responded to her glioblastoma diagnosis by essentially becoming a medical student.
“She applied the reporting principles that she used throughout her career toward the diagnosis. In appointments with doctors, she had the most detailed understanding of what was going on,” Winnecke said.
At Crain’s, Ms. Hanis sat near Ann Weiler, who is assistant managing editor for special projects. “I found her to be an incredibly insightful editor and a beautiful colleague,” she said.
Weiler remembers when Ms. Hanis critiqued the new Business of Life section before it was launched. “It was insightful and creative. … You don’t often get to peek at what your colleague thinks about something.”
Ms. Hanis loved to cook — and got creative doing it, Weiler said.
Ms. Hanis had a Great Books club whose members would read a book and then create a menu themed around the book. For one meal, Ms. Hanis tackled a notoriously hard, multiday recipe for mole by Chicago chef Rick Bayless.
At Crain’s, Ms. Hanis hired Shia Kapos, now author of Politico’s Illinois Playbook. It was Ms. Hanis’ idea for the Taking Names column, which Kapos wrote. “She had this clear idea. She trained and guided me,” Kapos said.
Ms. Hanis was an early fan of the NBC sitcom “The Office” and was inspired by it to create Crain’s Business of Life section. When the character Ryan was unexpectedly promoted to head the office on the show, Ms. Hanis asked Kapos for a story about a surprise promotion. “I had to scour the city,” she said.
Kapos stayed friends after Ms. Hanis left for the Tribune, bonded by their shared Greek heritage. “We had a group of Greek girlfriends and compared notes about having Greek dads,” Kapos said.
Ms. Hanis’ mentorship extended outside of the newsroom.
Through the Medill Local News Accelerator, Ms. Hanis’ coaching was instrumental in launching and growing the Chicago Social Butterflies newsletter, said Jake Wittich, a former Sun-Times reporter and current managing editor of the Windy City Times.
“I remember most her kindness and sense of humor. It was such fun working with her. We couldn’t have done this without her. I’m just really thankful,” Wittich said.
As lifestyles editor at the Sun-Times, Ms. Hanis demanded her reporters have the “full journalistic integrity” of any hard-hitting news desk, said Tammy Chase, who succeeded Ms. Hanis as lifestyles editor.
“A story had to be well sourced. She was an excelling editor in every way,” Chase said.
Patricia Wood Winn got to know Ms. Hanis as a public relations manager for Spain’s tourist office in Chicago. She accompanied Ms. Hanis on her first trip to Spain in 1999, and they became friends.
“When I read professional accolades, I think, ‘I know her for going out for Greek food, or talking about espresso, or “Columbo” episodes, or playing with her dogs,'” Winn said.
Ms. Hanis kept a framed photo in her office from one of Winn’s parties where they met Barack Obama, when he was a state senator in 2004.
Ms. Hanis did not have any immediate family. She had a devoted circle of friends who kept her company through her illness, Winn said.
Her friends held a 56th birthday party for Ms. Hanis at the hospice center, one week before she died. “She was so young,” Winn said.
Winn was with Ms. Hanis when she died. “Her passing was very peaceful,” she said.
A celebration of Ms. Hanis’ life will be held in January, Winnecke said.