Jerome "Jerry" Reising, 73, of Rochester, died Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, at home after a lengthy illness.

Jerry was born July 31, 1940,  in St. Paul and grew up in South St Paul. He was the son of Leonard Reising and Ruth (Hill) Reising Jacobs. He graduated from Cretin High School in St. Paul and from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, with a degree in journalism and photography. On June 1, 1963, he married Diane Ellingson in South St. Paul. They celebrated their 50th anniversary last year.

Jerry worked for the Dakota County Tribune weekly newspaper and for the St. Paul Pioneer Press before coming to Rochester in January 1966 to join the Rochester Post-Bulletin as a reporter.

He advanced steadily through the ranks in the newsroom, moving up to area editor and then city editor before taking over the launch of the Post-Bulletin's weekly, Successful Business, which was later renamed Business Today. He also planned and edited the Post-Bulletin's quarterly's Home & Lifestyle magazine in the 1980s and 1990s.

He taught  journalism classes at Rochester Community and Technical College. At the Post-Bulletin, he regularly taught an English usage course as part of the employee continuing education program.

In 1987, he was honored by the Small Business Administration as the Minnesota Small Business Advocate of the year for his work with Business Today.

At the time of his retirement in 2007, he was special sections editor, in charge of developing editorial content for a wide range of special pages and sections published with the daily paper.

He was a member of St. Francis Catholic Church for 48 years and on the board of directors of Rochester's Channel One Food Bank for several years.

Jerry befriended refugees from the Congo, Cambodia and Bosnia and welcomed them to their newly adopted country, community, his home and his heart. He helped them learn how to drive and shared many a meal while helping them polish up on their English.

In his spare time, he enjoyed building and flying radio-controlled model airplanes, woodworking, music, cooking and baking. His biggest project, though, has been the remodeling and updating of the couple's century-old home.

Jerry and Diane have traveled extensively, vacationing in Mexico, Hawaii, Costa Rica, England and Norway as well as Belize.

Survivors include his wife, Diane; two sons, Joseph (Judy), a professor and interim associate dean at Minnesota State University, Mankato, of North Mankato, and Daniel, a student, of Rochester; one daughter, Maria (Paul) Buehler, advertising account director, of Phoenixville, Pa.; three grandchildren, Jacob and Benjamin Goldblatt and Ian Buehler, all of Phoenixville, Pa.; one sister, Nancy Galatowitsch of Merrifield; and one brother, Kenneth (Peggy) of Hawaii.

He was preceded in death by his parents and an infant daughter, Angel.

Memorial Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Rochester, with Father Mark McNea officiating, and Father Paul Nelson co-officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery in Rochester.  Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Channel One, 131 35th St. S.E., Rochester, MN 55904, channel-one.org , or the donors choice.

Macken Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Online condolences are welcome at mackenfuneralhome.com .