1948 was the year NIU’s fourth president, Karl Adams, died in office, and Thomas Woodstrup was invited to a reception with the family after the funeral service.

“It was quite an honor,” said Woodstrup, who wrote a poem about Adams for a special issue of the Northern Illinois that commemorated his life.

Woodstrup’s sensitivity aided him again during his term as editor in chief of the Northern Illinois, the predecessor to the Northern Star.

When a football player’s wife gave birth, the staff offered its congratulations in a 1.5-inch story. After the paper was sent to the printer, the baby died during the night.

“I took the staff and we ran to the printer to block out the story,” Woodstrup said. “You could still read it through the marker, but people understood and appreciated what we did.”

Many who served under Woodstrup learned many valuable lessons from him.

“Not only was he a creative and expert editor in those early days, but he taught me all the ins and outs of editing and led me into the field of journalism,” said Gordon Dahlgren, who served on the Northern Illinois staff under Woodstrup and later became an editor of the paper.

After graduating, Woodstrup had a long career that brought him back to NIU in 1966 as Director of Alumni Relations. In this new role, he oversaw the quarterly alumni magazine and published a monthly newsletter to keep alumni informed of campus news. He also began the first national alumni clubs and created the first commercially published alumni directory.

Woodstrup also had the experience of being on the other side of the reporting process and was occasionally interviewed by the newspaper he once led.

“I always gave them more information than they wanted,” said Woodstrup, after commenting that the more information he gave a reporter, the shorter the stories appeared to be.

After leaving NIU, Woodstrup stayed involved in the DeKalb community. He is a past president of the DeKalb County Historical Society and has just completed four years as president of the Sycamore Historical Society and Museum, an organization he founded.

“He is still very much active in the community,” said Jerry Smith, fellow Hall of Fame member. “Tom has a long record of service to NIU.”