Slusher named Daily Herald Opinion Page editor

Daily Herald Assistant Managing Editor/News and Business Jim Slusher has been named to direct the newspaper's Opinion Page, editors announced Wednesday.

As assistant managing editor/opinion, Slusher will lead the day-to-day operation of the Opinion Page and be the primary spokesman for the Daily Herald's editorial voice. Slusher has been a longtime member of the editorial board and has written an Opinion Page ombudsman column for 11 years.

"The Opinion Page reflects our obligation to the community to provide a forum for thoughtful debate of issues important to the suburbs," said Daily Herald Senior Vice President/Editor John Lampinen.

"Jim deeply cares about the community and has a great appreciation of the Opinion Page's mission of public good," Lampinen said. "He's an outstanding journalist and we're pleased that he will be the next steward of the newspaper's editorial page voice."

In addition to his new role, Slusher will act as an editor-at-large, assisting the news team and others in suburban coverage.

Slusher, a Mount Prospect resident, joined the Daily Herald in 1989 after a two-year stint as managing editor of The Californian in El Cajon, Calif. He also served as assistant metro editor for the Saginaw News in Saginaw, Mich., and as a reporter and wire editor for the Daily Gazette in Sterling, Ill.

At the Daily Herald, owned by Paddock Publications Inc., Slusher has served as news editor, associate editor and assistant managing editor with various responsibilities, including at one time, newsroom training, and more recently, direction of the senior reporting staff.