To get a scoop, longtime Pioneer Press reporter George Beran wasn’t afraid to hide in a broom closet.
Beran did just that in the early 1970s at the former St. Paul Athletic Club in downtown St. Paul when he got a tip that a number of “civic bigwigs” and public officials were planning a secret meeting to discuss building a professional sports stadium in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood, said Linda Kohl, his wife and a former Pioneer Press reporter, editor and columnist.
Former Pioneer Press reporter and columnist George Beran died Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, at Lyngblomsten Care Center in St. Paul. He was 86. (Courtesy of Linda Kohl)
“Through a crack in the closet door, he managed to have enough light to take detailed notes about the plan,” Kohl said. “The story ran in the next day’s Pioneer Press, embarrassing many attendees, including the editor of the paper’s editorial page at the time, who promptly submitted his resignation (which was declined). You don’t see many meeting rooms with broom closets in them anymore.”
Beran, who covered St. Paul City Hall and business for the Pioneer Press and Dispatch, died Wednesday at Lyngblomsten Care Center in St. Paul after contracting influenza. He was 86.
“He was fearless,” Kohl said. “He got many a scoop off the Xerox machine in the mayor’s office. People would leave stuff after they copied it. He learned about people’s resignations, or that they weren’t going to run for office. He would get those kinds of scoops all the time. He pretty much had free rein. He would wander in and sit down and chit-chat with the mayor. He was pretty darn persistent.”
Beran once walked into the mayor’s office and found then-Mayor Charles P. McCarty ironing “Super Mayor” decals onto T-shirts, she said.
“George was a pro’s pro, a no-nonsense guy who knew St. Paul inside and out,” said Aron Kahn, who worked as a reporter and editor at the Pioneer Press from 1969 to 2007. “Politicians knew that about George and knew never to try and deceive him.”
In 1968, Beran broke the story that a secret deal had been reached by the city of St. Paul to sell the old Federal Court House, now known as Landmark Center, to a real estate developer in exchange for land for a parking facility in Lowertown. “Old Court House May Be Traded for Parking Lot,” read the headline on Beran’s story printed in the Dec. 17, 1968, edition of the St. Paul Dispatch, the city’s afternoon paper.
“St. Paul’s old Federal Court House, the belle of Victorian architecture standing north of Rice Park, may be swapped for a lower-Loop parking lot,” Beran wrote. “Whether the belle survives the wrecking ball is in doubt.”
Beran’s stories about the old Federal Court House “galvanized readers and civic leaders to come together to save and restore the beloved building for future generations,” Kohl said. Fifty-five years later, Beran and Kohl’s only child, Molly Beran, chose Landmark Center as the venue for her wedding to Todd Chaney, Kohl said.
Cretin, St. Thomas and UMN grad
Beran grew up in West St. Paul and graduated from Cretin High School in St. Paul in 1957. He majored in journalism at the College of St. Thomas, graduating in 1961. He got his master’s degree in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1963.
Beran started his journalism career as a reporter at the Sun newspaper chain, covering South St. Paul. In 1965, he was hired at the Dispatch. During his 35-plus years at the paper, he covered many beats, including the Metropolitan Council, St. Paul City Hall and Ramsey County government, and, later, business with an emphasis on small business. During his tenure at City Hall, he covered the administrations of mayors McCarty, Larry Cohen and George Latimer, Kohl said.
Beran was “kind, calm and patient with my questions,” said Chris Worthington, who served as Beran’s last business editor at the Pioneer Press. “George had wisdom. He was funny, too. Irony was never lost on him, often met with a grin. I recall sharing with George my too-long, 30,000-feet takes on the latest economic news, and he’d calmly say: ‘How about if I call around and ask how it might affect small businesses in St. Paul?’”
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An avid vegetable and flower gardener, Beran also wrote a gardening column in 1989 and 1990 called “In the Garden.” “Gardening appeals to people because they learn something new every year,” he wrote in a March 1989 column.
Beran and his garden in Maplewood were featured in a Marge Hols “Garden Path” column in 2002. The headline read: “Mix Master Intermingles Flowers and Vegetables.”
“You can’t beat fresh-picked vegetables for flavor,” Beran said in the interview. “There’s no comparison between what you get out of your own garden and what you buy at the store.”
Beran developed an onion variety he informally named “Maplewood Sweets” by cross-pollinating two different varieties of onions, Kohl said.
Married fellow reporter, started lunch group
Kohl and Beran met in the newsroom in 1972 when she was hired as a reporter. “As it turned out, I was given his desk when I started,” she said. “He was getting transferred to the City Hall bureau. I was moving into his desk as he was clearing it out. He was so happy he would never have to cover another meeting of the Metropolitan Sewer Board.”
The couple’s first date was on March 16, 1973. “He took me out to dinner at Jax, which was pretty fancy at the time,” she said of the Minneapolis cafe. “I think I fell in love with him that first night.”
The couple married four years later at Incarnation Lutheran Church in Shoreview. They lived in Maplewood for 43 years before moving to downtown St. Paul.
Beran was one of the founders of the Friday Lunch Forum, along with Pioneer Press colleagues Don Boxmeyer and Don Del Fiacco, former St. Paul City Council member Patrick Roedler, KSTP-TV newsman Stan Turner and Ruby Hunt, who served on the city council and Ramsey County Board, said John Mannillo, a retired St. Paul real estate developer and current chair of the civic group Saint Paul STRONG.
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The group still meets every Friday at the Downtowner Woodfire Grill to discuss civic affairs, public policy and politics. Beran was a faithful attendee until just a few years ago, said Mannillo, who runs the forum, which generally includes a guest speaker each week.
“George really cared about St. Paul,” Mannillo said. “He invested both his finances and his time in St. Paul. He had a real appreciation for the history of St. Paul. When I wanted to check on accurate information, George was one of the people I could count on for accuracy. Everyone respected George.”
In addition to Kohl, Beran is survived by their daughter, Molly Beran.
Funeral services are pending. Willwerscheid Funeral Home & Cremation Service is handling arrangements.
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