In a profession where people move around a lot, Shelley Epstein found a home and stayed put. And for that, Peoria is a better place.

After reporting and editing for the Peoria Journal Star since 1974, Shelley in 1990 became associate editor for the paper’s editorial page – a page readers look to for guidance.

“Because he knows so much about the Peoria area, and because he cares about it, his editorials communicate a sense of interest, concern – and outrage,” says Barb Mantz Drake, editorial page editor. “However, his greatest contribution stems from the fact that he is an old-school journalist, an editorial writer who in his heart is still a reporter, who brings an appreciation of hard news and a personal integrity with him to the office every day.”

Shelley also writes as one who has put down deep roots in Peoria for three-plus decades.

“They’ve been pretty good to me,” he says. “Peoria is a nice place to raise a family. My wife (Marianne) got a teaching job here. A few years later she was pregnant and then one kid, two kids, three kids and all of a sudden it’s 30 years later.”

Journal Star Publisher John McConnell also is glad Shelley elected to stay.

“His interviewing skills, particularly with visiting politicians, are second to none,” McConnell says, “and his writing and editing skills have helped make our editorial page one of the best in the region.”

The Chicago north-side native looks back on his days at the Northern Star as what instilled his love for journalism. “I think I got into the business, besides liking it, for altruistic reasons,” Shelley says. “You want to make an impact. Telling people things they need to know and should know – what the government is doing to them or for them – I believed in that then and I believe in that now.”

That outlook germinated at NIU, where Shelley showed up with no idea what he wanted to do with his life. His sophomore year, he tried two classes he thought looked interesting: accounting and intro to mass media. He’d drop accounting, but the media class, taught by Avi Bass, struck a chord. A friend on his dorm floor, Star Sports Editor Gary Benson, offered Shelley a job. He wound up working both sports and news at the Star, and realized he’d found his calling.

Through the years, Shelley hasn’t forgotten his debt to college media. He’s taught at Bradley University and worked with journalists at several student newspapers, including the Star. He even served as the unofficial, long-distance adviser for the newspaper at Emory University in Atlanta when his son, Reid, was editor.