Obituary: Arnold Ismach, Minnesota Daily adviser, Oregon journalism dean,

At the University of Minnesota, Arnold Ismach championed the right of student journalists to make mistakes. Many of his students went on to work for media outlets all over the United States.

"I just adored the guy and I think he was a really popular figure at the Minnesota Daily," said Jack Ohman, a cartoonist at the Sacramento Bee, who worked for the U's school newspaper, where Ismach was the adviser for seven years.

Ismach worked at the U from 1973 until 1985, when he became dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore.

Ismach died Jan. 14 in Oregon at age 84. He had retired as dean in 1994 and from teaching in 2000.

Under Ismach, students at the Minnesota Daily considered themselves professionals, said Eric Ringham, now senior editor for Minnesota Public Radio News. "He was a wonderful teacher."

Born in New York City, Ismach graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1951, became news editor at the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin in Washington state and later city editor at the San Bernardino, Calif., Sun-Telegram. After receiving a master's degree and a doctorate, he joined the U faculty in 1973 and became co-director of graduate studies in journalism.

He co-wrote three books on journalism, two with Everette Dennis, now dean of Northwestern University in Qatar. Dennis said Ismach researched how top reporters worked and emphasized survey research and statistical methods.

In 1979, the Daily came under fire for printing a humor issue that satirized Jesus Christ, among others. The Board of Regents yanked the automatic student fee assessed to cover the Daily's expenses. The Daily sued the U, lost in district court but won at the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kate Stanley, who became Daily editor four days after the satire issue and later was a Star Tribune editorial writer, said Ismach urged the Daily to sue. "He stuck up for our right to be stupid, our right to make mistakes, our right to run our own show," Stanley said. "There was nothing patronizing about his conviction that the Daily's independence was sacrosanct."

Ismach also testified in a suit filed by Dan Cohen, a Republican consultant in 1982 who anonymously leaked a police report to the media of a 1970 shoplifting arrest of Marlene Johnson, a DFL candidate for lieutenant governor. The Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press both broke the oral promises given by reporters that they would not name Cohen as their source. Cohen sued the papers and ultimately won at the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991.

Ismach, a consultant for Republican gubernatorial candidate Wheelock Whitney, was "our strongest witness," Cohen said. "He made a persuasive case for our position, which was that journalists are required to honor their commitments and promises, the same as ordinary people."

In retirement, Ismach "became known in Eugene for making homemade truffles and caramel," said his daughter, Theresa. He gave lectures on the benefits of chocolate. He also served on the board of the Oregon Hillel Foundation, ACLU of Oregon, Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association and Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon.