John Breen, 71, a mentor to generations of Connecticut journalists, died Wednesday in Moodus, CT after suffering complications related to vascular dementia. The Journal Inquirer reports that Breen was a newspaper reporter and editor in Illinois and Albany, N.Y., before spending 36 years as a journalism professor at the University of Connecticut. It was there that he taught many future journalists who went on to work in Connecticut and beyond.
In addition to his teaching career, Breen was a member of the Connecticut Newspaper Project, which worked to preserve the state’s journalism heritage. Breen will be missed by countless friends, family members and formers students. His son, Tom Breen told The J.I., “In lieu of flowers he would have preferred donations made in his memory to a powerful wizard capable of securing a Cubs World Series victory, your favorite bar, or the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, www.rcfp.org.”
