WINONA, Minn. — James M. “Jim” Galewski, age 74, one of the last resident editors of the Winona Daily News, died after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was born in Winona, graduated from Cotter School, and knew Winona inside and out. He began at the Daily News as a photojournalist and won many awards. Later he became the paper’s opinion editor and then editor-in-chief. He was the founding president of the Minnesota Newsaper Photographers Association. In 1991 he was awarded the Spirit Award from the newspaper’s parent company, Lee Enterprises, for 30 years of service and for his leadership with the paper’s lively local opinion section and his work with multiple sclerosis support groups, his church, and as a scoutmaster. Thirty-seven of his boys became Eagle Scout. Lee Enterprises has since discontinued its Spirit Award and drastically reduced its Winona local news coverage and made the editorship duty a part-time assignment for a staffer 30 miles away in LaCrosse and with no Winona connections. The paper’s decline has both saddened and angered townspeople, including Galewski’s family. Their obituary noted he was editor “when it was a real newspaper.”
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Details: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1952-2026