Steve Daley, Chicago Tribune journalist, dies

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Updated: November 15, 2011 12:27PM

Like the best reporters, Steve Daley could talk to anyone about anything, but unlike a lot of daily scribes, he could also write about anything.

In his 20-plus years as a journalist — including 15 at the Chicago Tribune — he covered sports, media and politics, even the occasional music review.

“Even when he started out in sports, he was a guy who always had a huge interest in everything,” said Mr. Daley’s friend, Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich. “He was just somebody whose mind was broad enough to understand that everything is everything else. The distinction between sports and politics really isn’t that big.”

Mr. Daley died Sunday after being admitted to Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., said his wife, Jane Daley. The cause of death was unknown Monday. Mr. Daley was 62.

Mr. Daley — who was born in Corning, N.Y., in 1948 — started doing free-lance pieces while working as a bartender at the Class Reunion bar in Washington, D.C. He went on to write for the Peninsula Times Tribune in Palo Alto, Calif., where Schmich was also a writer in 1980. At the Chicago Tribune, he covered sports, media, the U.S Congress and Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns, among other assignments.

“Steve Daley was maybe the wittiest, most incisive, most see-through-the-bull---- kind of person and journalist I’ve known,” said another friend, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin.

From the mid-1990s on, Mr. Daley worked in public relations in Washington, D.C., specializing in helping companies deal with media enquiries, his wife said.

“He did have an affinity for the written word,” Jane Daley said. “He loved reading books, magazines — you name it. He was a great writer. He could turn a phrase that would hit you in the gut, make you laugh or make you cry.”

In addition to his wife, survivors include a sister, Maribeth Daley of Toronto; an aunt; one uncle, and several cousins.

A remembrance celebration is being planned, Mr. Daley’s wife said.