Former Hartford Courant reporter and editor dies at 79
Kenneth W. Hooker Jr., a former reporter and editor at The Hartford Courant, died at his home in Massachusetts.
Hooker was 79.
In addition to his work at the Hartford Courant, Hooker was a longtime editor of New England Business Magazine, and a syndicated columnist for the Boston Globe, according to his obituary. He died on June 20.
“An insatiable reader his entire life, Mr. Hooker amassed a collection of the American humorists, and in his retirement became an antiquarian book dealer,” his obituary said. “He founded and ran The Wayward Bookman, named for A. J. Liebling’s ‘The Wayward Pressman’, in a former gas station building” in Wales, Mass.
“Mr. Hooker will be remembered for his intelligence, dry wit, irreverent sense of humor, loyalty, and family devotion,” the obituary says. “He was a mentor to his employees and admired by all who knew him. He will never be forgotten.”
Hooker is survived by his loving wife of 32 years Stephanie Della Cagna-Hooker, 6 children from previous marriages, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, many cousins, and “a large extended family,’ the obituary says.
Hooker’s ex-wife, Elaine Jackson, said Wednesday that she recalled both were hired at The Courant in September 1969.
“He got obits and was envious that I got a beat, covering Wethersfield. He went on to general assignment and courts, then was business editor for several years before leaving to become editor of New England Business magazine, I believe in 1981,” she said. “I joined the AP in Hartford in 1974 and then worked at the AP in Boston when we moved.”
Jackson said Hooker “was a tireless and well respected court reporter and business editor. One person he mentored, David Wessel, went on to have an illustrious career at The Wall Street Journal.”
Hooker’s obituary noted that he “raised pigs and chickens at home at one point,” and Jackson explained that the then-couple “moved to Southwick so we could afford to buy land, and he fancied himself a gentleman farmer. That’s where the pigs and chickens came in. Plus German shepherds.”
Jackson noted, as did the obituary, that Hooker was descended from Thomas Hooker. Thomas Hooker founded Hartford.
Private memorial services will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Mark Twain Foundation. For online condolences please visit www.lombardfuneralhome.com.
