MINNEAPOLIS — Jim Klobuchar, a longtime journalist, writer and traveler, has died at 93.
The son of an iron ore miner, Klobuchar earned a journalism degree from the University of Minnesota before working as a reporter for the Associated Press. He went on to write for the Star Tribune for several decades.
According to his daughter, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, he had written 8400 columns by the time he retired in 1995.
"Throughout his life my dad was a champion of those on the outside," Amy Klobuchar wrote in a statement. "Through his writing he gave voice to the struggles and triumphs of countless Minnesotans."
She said her father went from the "hardscrabble mining town" of Ely, Minnesota, to travel the world -- interviewing people like Ginger Rogers and Ronald Reagan, to name a few.
Klobuchar said her father publicly struggled with alcoholism, and used his experiences to help others.
"Even to the end, as he lived the final chapter of his life with Alzheimer’s, he was still singing songs and telling incredible stories to my sister Meagan and me," she wrote. "He loved our state. He loved journalism. He loved sports and adventure. And we loved him."
Jim Klobuchar will be buried at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A public celebration of his life will be announced later.
A representative from Senator Amy Klobuchar's office says anyone hoping to send gifts and flowers to honor Jim Klobuchar's life can instead donate to the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where they say a scholarship will be created in his memory. Donations can be made, here.