Norman W. Tischer

Rock Island, Illinois
Norman W. Tischer, 92, of Rock Island, Illinois, long-time newspaperman, died Thursday, August 31, 2006, in Trinity Medical Center, Rock Island, Illinois.
Services are 11 a.m. Tuesday in the Celebration of Life Chapel at Trimble Funeral and Cremation Center, Moline, with The Reverend Edward Borycz officiating. Burial is in Memorial Park Cemetery, Rock Island. Visitation is one hour before the services. Memorials may be made to the Arthritis Foundation or Alzheimer?s Association.
Norman Walter Tischer was born December 2, 1913, in Moline, Illinois, the son of Rudolph and Ella (Gifford) Tischer. His father was owner of Tischer Dairy for many years. He married Edith Eldridge in 1931, in Chicago; she died in 1943. He married Dorothy Bergren Smith in 1945, in Geneseo, Illinois; she died in 1986. He married Ruth Witt Warren in 1987, in Moline; she died in 2003.
Norm attended Moline schools until his family moved to Chicago. He returned to the area, and worked for the Rock Island Argus as county circulation manager in Geneseo, Illinois, and then was circulation manager in Rock Island for 21 years. In 1957, Norm joined the Pullian Newspapers in Muncie, Indiana, as circulation director and promotion manager, and worked there over 20 years. He returned to the Quad City area and again worked for the Dispatch/Argus until retiring in 1991. After retiring, he started the Dispatch/Argus Spelling Bee program for schools in Rock Island, Henry, and Mercer Counties. He was on the original committee which started the Newspaper in the Classroom project, now called N.I.E.
Professionally, Norm was a member of the Board of Directors of the Audit Bureau Circulation, and served as chairman of its newspaper division. He was president of Central States Circulation Managers and received the group?s Herbert Gilmore Exemplary Service Award. He was a director of the International Circulation Managers Association and was presented the President?s Award for circulation management excellence. He received the University of Wisconsin?s Frank Thayer award in 1970. He was a lecturer at the University of Iowa Department of Journalism, and was recognized for his outstanding work as Supporter of the Best Interest of Circulation.
He taught circulation management evening classes at Ball State University, Muncie.
Norm spent his entire adult life working with the youth of America in his professional career and his activities with Boy Scouts and newspaper carriers.
He headed up the Geneseo Community Chest and was instrumental in the Kiwanis Club?s drive to erect the World War II Memorial Monument in Geneseo Park. He was a member of the Geneseo Moose Lodge, secretary of the Kiwanis Club, Scout Master of Troop 31 and District Commissioner of Henry County for the Boy Scouts.
Norm is survived by two children, Margaret Lorentzen and her husband William of Duluth, Georgia, and Richard Tischer of Rock Island; four step-children and their spouses, Robert and Sharon Smith of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Pat and James Maynard of Rock Island, Tom and Gail Smith of Douglas, Georgia, and Steven and Rita Anne Warren of North Venice, Florida; 15 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and twin sisters and their husbands, Betty Jane and William Abraham of Wooddale, Illinois, and Mary Lou and Joe Cozzone of Bensenville, Illinois. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Patricia Ehrhardt, and brothers, Marvin and Allen Tischer.
Share a story about Norm or light a candle in his memory at www.TrimbleFuneralHomes.com.