Salem newspaperman dies

SALEM - Van Eisenhut, a former senior editor of the Statesman Journal, died Saturday. He was 79.

Eisenhut started as a police reporter and religion editor on the Oregon Statesman in 1953 and worked on the copy desk and as news editor. The Statesman and the afternoon Capital Journal were combined in 1980 to become the Statesman Journal.

He went on to become the Statesman Journal's twice-a-week columnist and the newspaper's unofficial ombudsman. He retired from the newspaper in 1988 after a 36-year career.

Eisenhut had battled Parkinson's disease and suffered numerous strokes, said his wife, Margit. He had been at a care home since November 1997, dying at the Keizer Retirement Village.