Courtesy: Chicago Sun-Times
CARBONDALE, Ill. (WSIL) -- Journalists who attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale since 1999 know the name William 'Bill' Recktenwald.
Affectionately known to many as 'Reck', he came to the university after a decades-long career in journalism at the Better Government Association, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.
Just months after retiring as a journalist-in-residence, Recktenwald passed away at an Evansville, Indiana hospital last Friday. Recktenwald died following a brief non-COVID-19 illness, according to the Sun-Times. He was 79 years old.
Recktenwald's legacy includes the numerous bylines and stories told through his career, including posing as a prison guard to expose deplorable conditions in correctional facilities. Recktenwald is arguably best known for the Sun-Times series on 'The Mirage' bar in 1978.
Four reporters, including Recktenwald, purchased the bar and disguised the walls with cameras and microphones that documented rampant corruption in Chicago. The reports created a Pulitzer-caliber series of more than two dozen stories that led to indictments to city electrical inspectors and major changes in city and state codes.
During his time at SIU, Recktenwald became a mentor to countless numbers of future journalists, including this reporter. Tyler Davis, an assistant sports editor at the Detroit Free Press, credits much of his career to what 'Reck' taught him. Davis says Reck dedicated his time to educating and providing resources for all of his students.
Davis says Recktenwald had 'an appreciation for the next wave of journalists.'
"[Reck] was going to give you the information, whatever information that he could," Davis said. "He wasn't trying to withhold it. He was trying to help everybody."
Recktenwald's funeral and burial were held Monday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church and Cemetery in Elizabethtown, Illinois.
