Jeff Farren is publisher of The Record Newspapers. Like his wife (and fellow inductee) Kathy, he holds a deep commitment to true, community journalism.

A native of Yorkville, he worked at the Kendall County Record after school and during summers as a high school student. He began working at the Northern Star in 1968 on the copy desk. After a semester each as assistant copy editor and copy editor, he was named associate editor in spring 1970. In that position, he was responsible for page layout and design. When Star editor Ken Trantowski was jailed for refusing to turn over staff photos of rioting that spring, Farren had the dubious honor of bailing him out.

After graduation from NIU, Jeff worked for the Aurora Beacon-News for a year as assistant state editor. He was hired as managing editor of The Kendall County Record by former owner Howard Pinc in 1971. Two years later, he and his wife, Kathy, purchased the paper. At the time, Jeff was the youngest newspaper publisher in Illinois. Increased readership in Plano prompted the Farrens to start a new paper, The Plano Record, in 1976. They purchased The Oswego Ledger in 1979 and, a year later, bought the other Oswego newspaper, The Fox Valley Sentinel. The two publications were merged into The Ledger-Sentinel. In 1985, the chain grew outside Kendall County when the Farrens started The Sandwich Record. The papers all are printed in-house; the business also prints several other publications.

Jeff served as a board member on the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association in the 1970s and was appointed to the Illinois Press Association board in the 1980s. He was IPA president in 1991. That year, he and Kathy received the NIU Journalism Alumni Award. Jeff also is a member of the National Newspaper Association and attended the American Press Institute’s forum on community newspaper management.

Outside of work, Jeff is a member of the Yorkville Community Band, which performs each Fourth of July.