Ken Kusmer, AP Indianapolis news columnist, has passed away at 65 after a brief illness
Ken Kusmer, whose long, award-winning career with the Associated Press included exposing flaws in efforts to privatize Indiana's welfare system, died Thursday at his Indianapolis home after a brief illness. He was 65.
Kenneth Doyle Kusmer began his AP career as a reporter and writer in Indianapolis in August 1984.
He won Indiana Journalist of the Year by the Society of Professional Journalists for his coverage of a failed attempt to privatize and automate the processing of applications for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits with a $1.3 billion contract with IBM Corp. and other companies. Under the weight of notoriety, then-Governor Mitch Daniels canceled the contract in October 2009.
In 2000, Kusmer received the Dale W. Burgess Award for outstanding performance by an AP staffer in Indiana. He directed coverage of Eli Lilly & Co.'s legal fight to block competition for the generic antidepressant Prozac. He also covered the Indianapolis Baptist Temple's fight with the Internal Revenue Service over its refusal to withhold federal income taxes from its employees.
"He was a great storyteller and also persisted in giving interviews", says his ex-wife Jodi Perras. "He epitomized the value of a free and independent media. He pursued the truth about leaders in government, business and religion who were accused of violating the public trust".
In recent years, Kusmer has followed the news at night from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, and sometimes from other parts of the United States. In March, he followed the tornadoes that hit southern and eastern Indiana.
"I've seen media reports of three deaths. But their sources weren't very reliable", says Roger Schneider, AP's assistant news director for the Great Lakes region. "Ken checked them out quickly, kept his cool and eventually confirmed there were no deaths. His attention to detail and accuracy made all the difference".
Kusmer, a devoted fan of the Green Bay Packers and Neil Young, had a knack for interviewing people who faced not-so-positive stories. "They talked to him knowing he would treat them fairly", says Perras, a former AP reporter.
"He was a real outgoing person who would say one sentence quickly", she says. "He was the kind of person you want to have a beer with, and he drank a lot of beer with a lot of people".
Kusmer "was a sharp editor with a love of baseball, music and good writing", says John Strauss, former AP news editor in Indianapolis. "Ken was unflappable in the busy Indianapolis newsroom, handling everything from breaking national news to hectic Friday sports".
"He really loved a good catchphrase", Strauss added. "Sometimes at the end of a shift, when we were all saying good night to each other, he'd snatch a line from somewhere - including his favorite from Bob Dylan's 'Mr. Tambourine Man.' "Well, then", Ken was saying. "It's time for me to wander, too".
"Ken trained me on the night shift when I started in the Indianapolis bureau", says Chris Grygiel, AP's deputy director of U.S. text production. "He was very patient in showing a newcomer what a very difficult routine was. He helped many employees hone their skills and was always willing to talk soccer with friends".
In 2001, Kusmer took a sabbatical and enrolled at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, where he earned a master of divinity degree.
"There was a time when he considered becoming a deacon in the Catholic Church", Perras says. "He grew up Catholic. He was deeply interested in theology".
Kusmer was born on August 31, 1958 to Doyle and Marian (Maile) Kusmer in Fremont, Ohio. He worked in his father's grocery store as a child and graduated from Fremont St. Joseph High School in 1976.
He attended Ohio University and worked at The Post, an independent student newspaper. He worked summers at a foundry in Fremont to help pay for his education. In 1979-80, Kusmer briefly dropped out to work for the Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun newspaper, covering police and firefighters, until his uncle persuaded him to return to college.
Perras said he graduated from Ohio University in 1981 with a degree in journalism and English and received a scholarship to work for AP in Tel Aviv.
The short-term assignment turned into a two-year internship after Israel invaded Lebanon and AP needed more help. While in Israel, Kusmer spent time on a kibbutz, covered Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem and witnessed Palestinian protests in the West Bank.
Kusmer is survived by a son Kevin and daughter-in-law Alyssa of Carmel, Indiana. His parents died before him.