After a series of illnesses and a stroke on Thanksgiving Day, Cherniss died in his sleep, said his wife, Maggi Cherniss, a third-generation Californian who grew up in San Marino and was the son of a prominent judge, was proud to be a native of the San Gabriel Valley, the common interests of which he was tireless in promoting throughout his long career as a newspaperman. He came from a generation of editors who saw no conflicts between reporting the news in a straightforward manner and at the same time advocating for community, national and international causes in which he believed.
After joining the Star-News in 1962 as business editor, he served as president of the Pasadena Foundation, of the St. Luke Hospital board of directors, as founding president of the St. Luke Foundation, where he raised more than $3 million for the hospital in two years, and of the Greater Pasadena Kiwanis and the South Pasadena Jaycees. He was a vice president of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, the Pasadena Pops orchestra, L.A. Sigma Delta Chi, the Pasadena YMCA, for which he chaired a $700,000 fund-raising drive, and the National Conference of Editorial Writers. And for 23 years Cherniss led a charity that he founded, the Pasadena Star-News Tournament of Toys, which distributes, in conjunction with the Pasadena Jaycees' Operation Santa, thousands of gifts for West San Gabriel Valley children each Christmas Eve, as well as giving thousands of dollars annually to local youth-oriented programs.
"It was my great pleasure to have known and worked with Chuck Cherniss and to have called him friend,' said Ron L. Wood, group publisher of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, which includes the Star- News.
"He was a man with unparalleled common sense, of great humor and wisdom, and he had a sense of fairness in all that he did. There was nothing my wife, Jane, and I enjoyed more than sharing time with Chuck and 'wife Maggi" the affectionate term Cherniss used in his column "discussing local events, politics and people.'
Though his mobility was limited in recent years as complications from childhood polio worsened, Cherniss was long a fixture on the local scene. For decades he cruised Pasadena boulevards in one of several street-legal electric golf carts he owned, as friends and readers called out to him from their cars and from the sidewalks.
Even those with whom he sometimes clashed over particular issues said he was a beloved leader in Pasadena. "Chuck Cherniss exemplified the duty of good citizens to question authority,' Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard said Friday. "We have lost a powerful voice who advocated that City Hall serve solely the public interest. That voice is needed in every community, and Chuck's voice will be sorely missed.'
Tom Coston, president of the board of the Light Bringer Project, which oversees the city's irreverent Doo Dah Parade each fall, recalled awarding Cherniss the parade's first Thorny Rose prize for generally curmudgeonly behavior among Pasadenans three years ago. "He had a twinkle in his eye, a devilish glint,' Coston said. "Under that crusty, sea-captain exterior was a very nice guy. ... From now on we're going to call it the Chuck Cherniss Memorial Thorny Rose. I think he would smile.'
The Chernisses were active in the Caltech Associates, a support group for the California Institute of Technology, and he enjoyed evenings at the Athenaeum, the institute's faculty club. Bob O'Rourke, a Caltech vice president and friend, said that Cherniss was "always very supportive to what Caltech was about, always very helpful getting our message out.'
He recalled how the two "used to go down to Pie 'N Burger a few times a year, reminisce, get caught up.' Once they were together at the restaurant when Regis Philbin accepted the honor of Tournament of Roses grand marshal on his television show, which was also being displayed on a big screen at Tournament House in Pasadena. "Oh, God, I was supposed to be at that news conference!' Cherniss said.
"There's a big void he was such a part of the newspaper and such a part of the community.'
Born August 29, 1927, at Hollywood Hospital, Cherniss attended elementary school in San Marino and graduated from the then-joint South Pasadena/San Marino High School. While a sophomore at the University of Southern California, from which he received his B.A. in political science in 1950, Cherniss started writing for the South Pasadena Review. He subsequently was a sportswriter at the old Pasadena Independent, and then a reporter, news- desk editor, sportswriter, sports editor and city editor at the San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, Alhambra Post-Advocate, Los Angeles Mirror-News, San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune and at the Los Angeles Times.
He returned to Pasadena and the Star-News in December 1962 as business editor, becoming editorial director in 1966 and editor of the paper in 1972. He remained editor until 1986, when, as he once put it, he "gladly gave up all exec-type duties to concentrate on column writing.' His column had appeared on Page A3 Tuesday through Friday and on Sundays ever since.
After a divorce, Cherniss married the former Maggi McNevin, 35 years ago last month. They made their home at an 1880s - era Sylvanus Marston-designed house, the first one built on South Madison Avenue. They have four children Jeff, of Los Gatos; Kevin, of Pasadena; and Bruce and Rebecca of Richmond, Virginia. Survivors also include four grandchildren.
Pasadena Star-News, January 17, 2003
