Yahn, first editor of Crain’s Chicago, dies at 69

Steve Yahn, who was the first editor of Crain’s Chicago Business when it launched in 1978, died Tuesday at the age of 69.

Yahn joined Crain Communications Inc. as managing editor of Pensions & Investments in 1973. In 1975 he joined Ad Age’s New York bureau and served as senior editor-financial.

Yahn in 1978 relocated to Chicago to become the first editor of Crain’s Chicago Business, which first published in April 1978. Yahn hired staff from the Chicago Daily News, which folded that year.

He rejoined Ad Age in October 1993 and became its editor in 1994. He was later executive editor of Editor & Publisher.

Yahn “became my mentor and great friend,” said Paul Merrion, a former Crain’s Chicago reporter, in a Facebook post. “He took a raw English major and made me into a journalist, then turned me loose on Washington. His passion for news was exceeded only by his passion for life and for his friends and family.”

Yahn’s career also includes service as editor of the Pittsburgh Business Times and business editor at The Philadelphia Daily News and the New York Daily News.

He graduated from the University of Illinois.