Jim Klobuchar

James John Klobuchar (/kloʊˈbʊtʃər/ klo-BUTCH-er; born April 9, 1928) is an American journalist, author, columnist and travel guide from Minnesota. He wrote for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis for three decades, and now writes an occasional column for The Christian Science Monitor. He is the father of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Jim Klobuchar
Klobuchar campaigning for his daughter Amy Klobuchar for U.S. Senator on July 4, 2012, in Tower, Minnesota
Born
James John Klobuchar

(1928-04-09) April 9, 1928
Ely, Minnesota, U.S.
EducationEly Junior College (AA)
University of Minnesota (BA)
OccupationJournalist, author, travel guide, columnist
EmployerStar Tribune (former)
The Christian Science Monitor
Children2, including Amy

Life and career

Klobuchar was born in Ely, Minnesota, the son of Mary (Pucel) and Michael Klobuchar.[1] His grandparents were all from Slovenia,[2] the surname Klobučar means 'hatter' in Slovenian. He earned an Associate of Arts degree from Ely Junior College (now Vermilion Community College) in 1948 and a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the University of Minnesota in 1950.

Career

He served in the United States Army from 1950 to 1952. He worked as a wire editor for the Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota in 1950 and as a legislative reporter from 1952 to 1953.[3]

Worked as a staff writer for the Associated Press in Minneapolis from 1953 to 1961 and with the Minneapolis Tribune from 1961 to 1965. He became a columnist for the Minneapolis Star starting in 1965.[3]

Personal life

He married Rose Heuberger August 7, 1954 and had two children, Amy and Beth.

Klobuchar was an alcoholic who frequently missed family gatherings during his children's youth, spent much time away due to his drinking, and was repeatedly arrested for driving under the influence. Klobuchar and his wife divorced around 1975. He initiated the divorce, calling himself another "middle-aged man with wanderlust". The divorce took a serious toll on the family, eventually causing Beth to drop out of high school, leave home early, and struggle with personal issues for a while. Amy's relationship with her father did not fully recover until the 1990s, when he quit drinking.[1] Klobuchar and his ex-wife reconciled as best friends a few years after the divorce, and he never regretted the impact the divorce had on the family.[1]

Klobuchar has Alzheimer's disease.[4]

Books
  • The Zest (and Best) of Klobuchar, Mark Zelenovich, Inc., 1967.
  • True Hearts and Purple Heads, Minneapolis: Ross & Haines, 1970.
  • Tarkenton, New York: Harper & Row, 1976. Co-author, Fran Tarkenton.
  • Will the Vikings Ever Win the Super Bowl? An Inside Look at the Minnesota Vikings of 1976, with Jeff Siemon's journal, New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
  • Will America Accept Love at Halftime?, Ross & Haines, 1992
  • Minstrel: My Adventure in Newspapering, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997.
  • Pursued by Grace: A Newspaperman's Own Story of Spiritual Recovery, Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1998.
  • The Cross Under the Acacia Tree: The Story of David and Eunice Simonson's Epic Mission in Africa, Minneapolis: Kirk House Publishers, 1999.
  • Knights and Knaves of Autumn: 40 Years of Pro Football and the Minnesota Vikings, Cambridge, Minnesota: Adventure Publications, 2000.
  • Sixty Minutes with God, Kirk House, 2003. ISBN 1-886513-78-3
  • Walking Briskly Toward the Sunset, Nodin Press, 2005.

References
  1. Klobuchar, Amy (August 25, 2015). The Senator Next Door: A Memoir from the Heartland. MacMillan. ISBN 9781627794176.
  2. "Amy Klobuchar". rootsweb.com. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  3. Who's Who in America, 1976–77, Marquis Who's Who, p.1743
  4. The Plague Year, by Lawrence Wright, in The New Yorker; published December 28, 2020; retrieved January 1, 2021
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