Bill Shields, the former automotive reporter and business editor of the Windsor Star in Canada, died Friday at the age of 81.
Brian Cross of the Star writes, “Former Chrysler spokesman Walt McCall said his company had as good a working relationship with Shields as it could possibly have with a reporter, meaning officials could tip him off about big news that was coming, confident he wouldn’t spill the beans until the agreed-upon time. ‘And not just Chrysler, but the other auto companies too. He was a respected, well-regarded reporter.’
“But don’t forget he was also the life of the party. In a 1993 article marking Shields’ retirement, former mayor Frank Wansbrough recalled the day in the early 1970s when Shields lugged a case of beer into city hall, marching past startled employees and into the mayor’s office. Shields, the mayor and a radio reporter then shut the door and ‘demolished’ the case to celebrate the mayor’s birthday.
“Hall recalled one year when a gang of newsroom staffers went together in a hired bus to attend an out-of-town newspaper awards ceremony. ‘The entire trip back, and most people were hung over like you wouldn’t believe, Bill Shields told jokes for four solid hours,’ said Hall. ‘We were just killing ourselves.'”
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