Jim Hoover, former Bay Windows publisher, passes away at 53

Friends, family and colleagues mourned the passing of former Bay Windows and South End News publisher James Hoover last week, recalling a man who was a loyal friend, a devoted brother and a caring and courageous newspaperman.

Hoover died on March 19 after a long battle with multiple myeloma. He was 53 years old.

A native of Chicago, Hoover moved to Boston in 1975 and embarked on a career as a nightclub DJ, spinning records in nightspots like the 1270 on Boylston Street, The Bar on Tremont Street and the Boatslip in Provincetown.

In April of 1984 Hoover took over as publisher of the South End News after having served as the paper's business manager and general manager during the two years prior. Upon assuming his publishing duties, Hoover pledged to expand coverage of the "diverse people and businesses" in the neighborhood and to "continue serving as a means of dialogue for the community." Those who worked for him indicated that he more than fulfilled those goals by putting the neighborhood's need for information over his business interests.

Joe Yonan, the South End News editor from 1993 to 1996, recalled posing a hypothetical situation for Hoover in his interview for the job, asking his future boss what he would say if South End News intended to run an article exposing shoddy or fraudulent practices of a major advertiser. Hoover replied, "Well, I'd tell you to make sure it was right."

"And that was the answer I wanted to hear," said Yonan, now a food and dining editor for the Washington Post.

In September of 1985, Hoover purchased Bay Windows, a two-year old gay and lesbian weekly paper, from founding publisher Sasha Alyson. "Jim provided time and space for Bay Windows to develop, and to become one of many foundations on which Boston's gay and lesbian community could grow into what it is today," said Alyson in an e-mail to Bay Windows. "I think we all can and should be grateful to him for that."

As one of the founding members of the National Gay Newspaper Guild, a group of 12 LGBT newspaper publishers, Hoover also helped move the LGBT press into an unprecedented era of professionalism.

"Jim was really kind of the [man who] wanted to do it all, and once he got going there was no stopping him really," said Todd Evans, the CEO of the gay media firm Rivendell Media, which organized the guild in 1984.

Most notably, in the 1990s Hoover helped Evans develop the first LGBT market surveys, which provided crucial data about LGBT consumerism, thus increasing mainstream advertising interest in the LGBT press. "Without him maybe some of the surveys might not have happened," said Evans, noting that Hoover helped gather funding "to get some real gay market research facts out there," in addition to helping to refine survey questions. The data that was gathered from those groundbreaking market surveys, said Evans, "were and still are the benchmarks of the gay press today."

"Jim Hoover brought a level of professionalism to gay and community newspapers that was unheard of back in the '80s," said current Bay Windows co-publisher Sue O'Connell, who purchased the papers from Hoover in 2005 with her business partner Jeff Coakley, after working for Hoover for several years. "He knew that our civil rights movement would be helped by mainstream companies who placed their ads in gay press, and in order to get that business Bay Windows would need to be a professional sales organization."

Moving the offices of both newspapers from their location on Washington Street, which at the time was a largely neglected area perceived as unsafe, to a more central and spacious storefront at 631 Tremont Street in 1997, was one of Hoover's proudest moments as a publisher, recalled his partner, Jay Kubesch. "Before they'd always been kind of tucked out of the way," said Kubesh, who was joined with Hoover in a commitment ceremony at the Arlington Street Church in 2000. To commemorate the move, Mayor Thomas Menino declared Sept. 19, 1997 to be South End News/Bay Windows Day. In his proclamation, Menino singled out Hoover for his "tireless leadership" of South End News and Bay Windows reporters as they worked to keep the city informed.

In a March 20 statement, Menino called Hoover "a pioneer" in Boston's LGBT community whose "voice, charisma and passion for equality" would be missed.

"Under his leadership, Bay Windows thrived to become one of the most vibrant community newspapers in our city. When Jim purchased Bay Windows in 1985, social issues for the GLBT community were at the cusp of the nation's political agenda and the newspaper consistently highlighted and pushed to the forefront these critical issues of equality," Menino continued. "The 17 years Jim dedicated to Bay Windows as its publisher and his service to Boston's GLBT community as a whole is a large reason why the newspaper is now the largest GLBT publication in New England. Jim will be remembered for his warmth and compassion, but most of all for his unwavering support and activism for the equal rights issues closest to our hearts."

Hoover was born on Dec. 31, 1955 in Illinois, the youngest of three children - and the only son - born to Charlotte and Richard L. Hoover, who passed away in February of last year. His sister Pam Hoover described a loving and loyal sibling who, despite his busy life in Boston, helped her through the breakup of her marriage in 1988. "He dropped everything and that summer came back to the Chicago suburbs every three weeks through that fall to spend time with me and with my kids," she recalled. Hoover attended Little League and soccer games and accompanied the family on trips to Michigan. "[He] just kind of was there for us," she said.

"He was very warm and very caring. When he offered you his hand in friendship you were his friend for life," said Pam. Others who knew him said that having dealt with substance abuse issues in his own life, Hoover was compassionate toward others who were similarly situated and often helped steer them toward help.

While a career shift from DJ to newspaper publisher would seem unlikely, Hoover's sister said from a young age he showed "a real gift with the written word." While the dictates of the time steered boys toward math and science and girls toward English and more creative pursuits, Hoover bucked the trend. "He was always so much better in English, both speaking and the written word," said Pam.

He also possessed a beautiful singing voice, said Pam. As a student at Hinsdale Township High School Central, he was the first freshman ever to win the lead role in the school's annual spring musical and the first freshman ever to win a spot in the school's a capella group, the Madrigals.

Hoover left Illinois for Boston, said Pam, because he was always more of an "urban dweller." To her brother, she recalled, "The cornfields of Champagne, Illinois, were not real exciting." He was also drawn by the opportunity to study at Northeastern University, then a hotbed for those who aspired to work in the music business. He settled in Dorchester, but later lived for many years in the South End before relocating to Provincetown after he retired.

Those who knew Hoover also recalled his tech savvy, be it the newest publishing software, the iBook he toted to the office, scoring an iPhone as soon as they hit the streets and generally all things Apple and Mac. He also loved sharing his knowledge of the latest technological innovations, they said.

"He was a techie," said Keith Barsky, a South End resident and business owner who was close to Hoover. "Every toy that he could get his hands on he did, and it had to be the first day it came out, of course," he laughed.

Evans laughingly confessed that, "even when he was sick, I would use him for Mac advice, I have to say."

The onset of Hoover's illness - he was diagnosed with stage 4 multiple myeloma in 2002 - was a difficult time for the newspapers, said O'Connell. "Advertising was slow due to the post-9/11 environment and Jim was struggling with old demons," she said. "Jim had high expectations for others, but even higher expectations for himself. He found it difficult to ask for the help he needed, and his enduring optimism and his basic aversion to conflict didn't serve him well." Eventually, he agreed to sell the papers to O'Connell and co-publisher Jeff Coakley, "for the good of the papers and the community," said O'Connell.

But it was not the ideal way Hoover would have chosen to retire. "It wasn't how he wanted to go out clearly," said Kubesch. "[But] between the illness and the business he really needed to get out from under."

He pursued treatment for his multiple myeloma, a form of cancer, with the same vigor he pursued the latest technological innovation. "He was not ready to die," said Kubesch. "He had too many things unsettled." Hoover underwent two stem cell transplants and accessed numerous alternative and traditional treatments for the disease. "Any time the FDA approved a new drug, or approved clinical trials of a new drug, he was right there in line," said Pam Hoover.

"His big contention during all of this treatment was that if he pursued some of these trials then perhaps someone else wouldn't have to go through it," said Kubesch.

Despite his illness, Hoover and Kubesch spent the last several years traveling, a pastime Hoover enjoyed before he got sick. Last year, they traveled to Yellowstone National Park, to attend Kubesch's mother's 70th birthday celebration.

"He seemed to really enjoy it," said Pam Hoover, recalling some pictures she saw of the trip.

"He did get frustrated because there was limited cell phone coverage out there," she added with a chuckle. "You know Jim and his technology."

A memorial service will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in Provincetown on Commercial Street on Friday, April 24 at 4 p.m. Per Hoover's wishes, there will dancing later that night at the A-House in Provincetown with DJ David LaSalle, with a special Jim Hoover set.