Steven William Yahn

Steven W. Yahn, beloved father of Adam and Chad Yahn, passed away on June 28, 2016. Steve was born in Janesville, Wisconsin in 1947 to Charles W. and Carolyn Yahn. After graduating as a James Scholar from the University of Illinois, Steve launched his journalistic career at the Chicago Daily News, where he became a noted feature writer whose stories are among those featured in the book “Done in a Day: 100 Years of Great Writing from the Chicago Daily News”.

He went on to become the founding editor of Crain’s Chicago Business, as well as editor of The Collector-Investor magazine and the Pittsburgh Business Times. In the early 1980s he became financial editor at the Philadelphia Daily News and then was recruited to become editor of the financial section at the New York Daily News.

In the late 1980s, Steve moved to the coast of Maine, where he and his brother-in-law Andrew Rock published Preview, a weekly lifestyle magazine. Steve then returned to his roots in Chicago, where he served as editor of Ad Age Magazine for several years before taking on the same role at Editor and Publisher in New York City.

Despite having to deal with challenging health problems in recent years, Steve remained a dogged journalist, and at the time of his death was a valued contributor to Risk & Insurance Magazine, where he often wrote attention-getting cover stories.

Not only was Steve a gifted writer, poet and editor, but he also was known for his great kindness, generosity and wonderful sense of humor, which earned him the love and respect of countless talented journalists who worked for or with him over the years. He is survived by his 27-year old son Adam and 20-year-old son Chad; his mother Carolyn and sister Barbara, both of Rockford, Ill.; his brother Kurt, an attorney in Chicago, as well as several nieces and nephews.

A celebration of Steve’s life will take place on Friday, July 1, with visiting hours for friends and family from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Edward F. Carter Funeral Home, 41 Grand St., Croton on Hudson, NY.