Jack Conaty brought a talent for concise and impactful writing, an acerbic wit and a willingness to help his colleagues to his work as political reporter at Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32 for more than two decades.
“He had a razor-sharp political insight and a concision in writing — the man did not waste a word,” said former WFLD reporter Lilia Chacon. “He just cut to the crux of the (matter) and he did it in a way that was illuminating. We were in awe of his writing skills.”
Conaty, 77, died of complications from cancer on Aug. 28 at a hospital in Tucson, Arizona, said his daughter Katherine. He had lived in Tucson for the last decade or so and previously had lived in Kennebunk, Maine. after leaving WFLD, which now is known as Fox 32. Prior to that, he had resided in River North and Wilmette.
Born John Lawrence Conaty in New Haven, Connecticut, Conaty grew up in Hamden, Connecticut, and attended Notre Dame High School, an all-boys Catholic high school in West Haven. He graduated from Providence College with an English degree and then worked for six years as a high school English teacher, his daughter said.
Conaty eventually decided to change careers, studying journalism at the University of Missouri. His first job was a stint at WTVT, a television station in Tampa, Florida, and he then worked for two years as a weekend anchor for WNET-TV in New Jersey before relocating to Washington, D.C., where he spent six years with WJLA-TV as a national correspondent. Then, from 1986 until 1987, he worked for a Fox affiliate, WTTG, in Washington.
In 1987, Conaty was hired to be political reporter at WFLD, which at that time was launching a nightly news operation. Conaty covered both local and national political stories, including interviewing leaders like Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, and attended seven presidential conventions.
“I think he had an advantage in covering politics over many of us in Chicago, because a lot of people start in Chicago and then go to D.C., and he came the other way,” said former WFLD reporter and anchor Larry Yellen. “He knew Washington, he knew Capitol Hill, he knew the White House, so when he covered a story here involving D.C. politicians, he already knew the other end of the story — how it would play out in D.C. Some of us would take a couple of hours to figure out where a story was headed, and Jack sensed right away which way a story was going to go. He was like a chess player in the world of politics — he could think four moves ahead of everyone else.”
Despite not being a Chicagoan, Conaty soon earned respect from competing political reporters from other stations, and he earned three Emmy awards in his career, plus a Peabody award.
“Jack was … a brooding Irish American intellectual who loved the thrust and parry of political, literary and social discourse, and the friendly competition on the best local political reporter’s beat in America,” said retired WLS-Ch. 7 political reporter Andy Shaw.
Mike Flannery, who while at WBBM-Ch. 2 competed against Conaty for many years, later succeeded Conaty as WFLD’s political reporter. He recalled that Conaty “often had a way of stepping back from an encounter and making a pithy observation.”
“He had a great recall about national politics,” Flannery said. “And he was a graceful writer with a wry sense of humor, who had an acerbic observation about just about everything and everyone.”
While at WFLD, Conaty contributed reports to the station’s 9 p.m. newscasts and also hosted a Sunday morning political talk show, “Fox Chicago Perspectives.”
Former WFLD news anchor Robin Robinson lauded Conaty’s ability to work quickly.
“I’ve never seen a faster-writing writer, especially in TV, where you have two or three deadlines a day, and he knew what he wanted to say, he checked his facts, he wrote it down and he always had a turn of a phrase that nobody else could have, would have, thought of,” she said. “And he was a passionate guy who never raised his voice — he was like a detective from (a) 1950s (TV show).”
Retired WFLD news anchor Walter Jacobson recalled Conaty’s breadth of knowledge, reflecting that “if you had a question about politics, you could just walk over to his desk and get an answer.”
“I just remember him being so good and fast, and he knew so much about politics in Chicago,” Jacobson said. “He was an incredible help.”
Former WFLD news anchor Bob Sirott, who now hosts mornings on WGN-AM, termed Conaty a “great old-school Chicago-style reporter.”
“His take on politics was always smart and insightful, in the tradition of our unique street reporters like Phil Walters, Paul Hogan and Dick Kay,” Sirott said. “He had an entertaining way of telling a story and getting to the truth. I don’t think he ever got his proper due or the recognition he deserved.”
Conaty bounced back from triple bypass surgery in 1995 to remain at the station for close to another decade and a half.
Conaty’s daughter said her father believed that having a free press “was a core tenet of a functioning democracy.”
“He was always really proud to participate in that,” she said. “He believed that journalism played an important role in the functioning of our society.”
After leaving WFLD in 2009, Conaty enjoyed golfing and traveling, his daughter said.
A marriage ended in divorce. In addition to his daughter, Conaty is survived by his wife of seven years, Tinsley Deibel; another daughter, Eliza; and two sisters, Helen and Jean.
A private memorial service is being planned.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
