Parting Thoughts: Veteran journalist Chuck Haga remembered for his craft, curiosity and heart
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In our Parting Thoughts series, we remember everyday Minnesotans.
One of the first things you might have noticed about writer Chuck Haga is his height.
“He had me by about eight inches and 50-plus pounds,” said longtime friend Jim Durkin. But his imposing, taciturn air disappeared the moment you talked to him.
“He always had a twinkle in his eye,” Durkin said.
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He also had an eye for great stories. His first official stint as reported started in 1967 at the University of North Dakota, but Haga told the Dakota Student in 2022 that it really began in junior high school, with his own mimeograph newspaper.
“I am insatiably curious about almost all things and an incurable gossip,” he said. “I would fill four or five pages with jokes, sports news and other news.”
He couldn’t wait to get into the newspaper business. He left UND before graduation, and went to work at the Grand Forks Herald in 1971. It was there he met Durkin. With small-town roots in Valley City and Grand Forks, Durkin said Haga was able to connect with anyone and bring out their story.
“You learn to relate to almost every kind of person,” Durkin said. “Doesn’t matter if they’re rich and famous or lowly ditch diggers.”
But it was typically those everyday people that Haga sought out.
“Oftentimes people who are off the radar just speak from their heart,” Durkin said.
Haga had an ability to evoke deep emotions with the written word in way Durkin described as magical.
“He uses the same words you and I use every day, but he could put them together in such a way that it's just beautiful,” he said.
His love of the small town where he grew up and North Dakota never faded. Haga returned to UND in 1976, finishing his degree. From there he went to graduate school, studying modern European history and then around the globe, spending a year in Europe. He studied at the University of Oslo from 1978 to 1979.
After becoming a professor at UND, Haga decided academic life wasn’t for him.
“I wanted to be a journalist, not teach about it,” Haga said.
He returned to the Grand Forks Herald and then to the Star Tribune (now the Minnesota Star Tribune). After 20 years he retired from the Star Tribune and returned to the Herald to be closer to family. In 2013, he decided it was time to teach the next generation of journalists. Haga retired from newspapers and returned to UND a final time, as a professor.
“I learned a few things over the course of time and thought I had something to share,” Haga told the Dakota Student newspaper, “I really love the university, and I like the idea of trying to help some young people get into the business.”
Chuck Haga died on May 11, 2025, at age 75. You can read his official obituary here.
Listen to the parting thoughts conversation on Chuck Haga by clicking the play button above.
