The Sun-Times lost a grate editor Monday.
Maureen Cotter definitely would have caught the misspelling in that sentence.
She kept a lot of reporters out of hot water, and saved readers from having to stomach flowery language, run-on sentences and many other hazards of the trade. Known simply as Mo, Ms. Cotter worked at the Sun-Times for nearly a quarter of a century before retiring in 2018.
She died Monday at her home in Rolling Meadows after a years-long struggle with dementia. She was 64.
“Mo was the classic copy editor — smart, confident and skilled in making a story better,” said Don Hayner, former editor-in-chief of the Sun-Times. “She could persuade you to drop an awkward word, fix a misguided sentence or re-examine your facts.”
Ms. Cotter worked for years on the copy desk, the paper’s last line of defense before stories reach print, before becoming an assistant city editor on the evening shift, where she launched reporters on assignments and gave their stories an initial read.
“The shift requires a kind of calm, no-nonsense, low-key approach to get through the evening, as well as an even-keeled persona during occasional chaos,” said former editor John O’Neill, who noted that Ms. Cotter was rock-solid reliable in the role.
“I remember Mo as a tough-as-nails perfectionist,” said Eric White, assistant news design editor. “She really believed in the mission of the Sun-Times to be accurate, fair and to hold powerful people to account, and she believed in the copy desk’s role in that.”
Underneath her tough exterior there was warmth, kindness, a quick laugh and an unspoken guarantee that Ms. Cotter had the backs of the reporters she worked with.
“She knew English grammar and AP style like it was religious doctrine, she scrutinized every date and official’s title that popped up in copy with a healthy wariness, and she hated prose that was anything less than crystal clear,” recalled former political editor Scott Fornek.
Ms. Cotter loved Bruce Springsteen, U2 and spending time in Marco Island, Fla., said her husband, Ned Senghas.
“She had a strict ethical code, both in life and in journalism,” Senghas said. “She was known to swear, which seems like an occupational hazard. There wasn’t a phony bone in her body. There were some stubborn ones.”
To decompress, she read books, lots of them. Her husband would also read books to her. Elmore Leonard was a favorite author.
Ms. Cotter attended the now-shuttered Good Counsel High School, an all-girls Catholic school, before receiving a scholarship to study journalism at Northwestern University.
She worked in Chicago as a reporter at the famed City News Bureau, known as the boot camp of journalism, where she realized she’d rather work as an editor than be on the street covering news.
She later worked at newspapers in Indiana and Vermont — where she met her husband, who worked in page design — before returning to Chicago to work at the Southtown Economist before landing at the Sun-Times.
Ms. Cotter was born Dec. 8, 1960, in Chicago to Mary and Timothy Cotter, who found their car had been stolen when they left the maternity ward.
Her parents were from Ireland. Her mother, one of 13 siblings, worked as a banquet hall server and hostess. Her father was an airline worker.
Ms. Cotter was one of four siblings. When she was eight, one of her two older brothers, Tim, died of leukemia. Ms. Cotter’s father died less than nine months later from kidney cancer.
“When you lose two people like that at a young age . . . She carried it around with her every moment of the day,” her husband said.
Her mother later married her second husband Peter O’Brien.
Ms. Cotter grew up near Wrigley Field and later moved to a two flat in East Irving Park neighborhood.
Ms. Cotter volunteered in high school as a “candy striper” at a Northwest Side hospital, where she went from room to room pushing a cart full of newspapers, books and other items that patients might appreciate.
“She had dreams of pursuing a career in medicine until a nun who taught English turned her onto the idea of a career in journalism,” said her sister Anne Cotter.
“The hardest part for her with this disease is that she had to leave work. She loved her job,” said her husband, noting that he wished she’d had more time to pursue other interests.
“Even though it was expected, it was a shock, the finality of her being gone,” he said. “I’m going to miss her so much.”
Ms. Cotter also worked as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University teaching graduate students the basics of editing.
“She was so good to so many people, her nephews and nieces, her godchildren,” her husband said. “She was just a very giving person, she took care of her mother when she was dying of dementia, just so many things.”
In addition to her husband, Ms. Cotter is survived by her sister, Anne Cotter, and her brother, John Cotter.