Obituary: John Dennison, 72, led Star Tribune labor relations

For a labor negotiator, there's perhaps no higher achievement than to command respect from both sides of the bargaining table.

John Dennison did just that in a more than 30-year career as the Star Tribune's vice president for labor relations, which ended when he retired in 2000. Dennison, 72, died Dec. 9 in Shoreview after a short battle with leukemia.

"John was a really unique individual," said Tim Vescio, Dennison's longtime labor relations assistant at the Star Tribune. "He had a balanced approach and he was highly regarded by both sides."

Union leader Bernie Lunzer agreed. "You could really trust this guy," said Lunzer, who in the 1990s bargained for Star Tribune newsroom employees in the Newspaper Guild. "Frankly, he's the kind of person who almost doesn't exist in labor relations anymore," said Lunzer, now president of the national Newspaper Guild.

Dennison grew up in southeast Minneapolis and graduated from Marshall High School. He took to journalism at a young age, and was the first recipient of a WCCO Radio scholarship at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism. After earning his undergraduate degree, Dennison went to the university's law school, graduating in 1967.

Colleagues said he always wanted to be a sportswriter, but Dennison combined his fields of study into a career in newspaper employment law.

During his tenure, the Star Tribune would become known for superior pay and benefits in the newspaper industry, though there were rough spots. The Guild and the Mailers unions struck for 26 days in 1980. In 1989, a Guild strike was averted with a last-minute deal.

"There was nobody like John," said Bruce Nelson, leader of the Twin Cities Newspaper Guild in the early 1980s and now an international Guild representative. "He was really in a class of his own. He respected collective bargaining and he respected union representatives, though that doesn't mean we didn't have fights and arguments."

Dennison negotiated contracts with about a dozen unions at the Star Tribune, from drivers to press operators to machinists. Oddly, he didn't relish conflict. "For a person who did not like conflict to become a labor negotiator is quite unusual," said Randy Lebedoff, the Star Tribune's general counsel.

Indeed, Dennison was known for his big Christmas parties, where company executives mixed with union representatives. "He was very honest and a person of high integrity and that's how he approached labor relations and everything else in his life," Lebedoff said.

Dennison's greatest accomplishment was negotiating the union contracts for the Star Tribune's Heritage printing plant, which opened in 1987 at 800 N. 1st St., replacing the presses at 425 Portland Av., Lebedoff said. "It was a huge undertaking."

Dennison enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves during the Vietnam War. He was an active world traveler and an avid fisherman and hunter. He is survived by his sister, Carol J. Cartwright; nephews Michael Cartwright and Thomas Cartwright; niece Susan Tynjala; six great-nieces and one-great nephew

Services have been held.

Mike Hughlett • 612-673-7003