[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15428]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                         TRIBUTE TO MIKE PARMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 20, 2006

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Michael 
J. Parman, who had a long and distinguished career as editor and 
publisher of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the newspaper of record in 
Sonoma County.
  Mike Parman died on July 1st after a long fight against pancreatic 
cancer. His rise to the top of the North Coast's publishing world was 
marked by grit, determination and independence. His tenure at the Press 
Democrat was marked by excellence and community involvement. And his 
final days marked by self-awareness, humor and grace.
  Orphaned at 14, Mike raised himself in Reno, Nevada under the 
guardianship of two far-apart relatives. He attended Reno High School 
where he played basketball and was on the wrestling team. Inspired by 
his journalism teacher, Rex Daniels, he became a sports writer, and the 
school paper's sports editor, and wrote a weekly column for Reno's 
daily paper. Mike went on to the University of Nevada at Reno, where, 
while earning bachelors and master's degrees, he wrestled and boxed and 
worked as editor and sports editor of the campus paper, and continued 
to write for the Nevada State Journal.
  In 1967, he married Michaele McCulloch, the daughter of journalist 
Frank McCulloch and Jackie McCulloch, a marriage that lasted until his 
death and produced two children, Chris and Leah, who are now parents 
themselves.
  After completing his master's degree in 1968, Parman was called to 
military duty. He served as an Army journalist and photographer in 
Vietnam, where he earned a Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal.
  In 1970 he was hired as a reporter by the Pioneer Press, a group of 
weekly newspapers on Chicago's North Shore. He quickly rose to managing 
editor and at the same time worked as a stringer for Money Magazine. In 
1973 he headed west for California, and worked briefly as a copy editor 
of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat before being hired at the Sacramento 
Bee. Starting at the copy desk, he successively was promoted to 
executive sports editor, weekend editor, assistant managing editor, and 
finally managing editor.
  When the New York Times acquired the then privately-owned Press 
Democrat in 1985, Mike saw an opportunity play a major role in remaking 
the paper. At the Press Democrat, Mike Parman, first as editor, then as 
publisher, oversaw several major graphic redesigns of the paper, the 
construction of a regional printing facility, and the winning of dozens 
of awards, including a Pulitzer for Photography and a Polk Award for a 
series of articles.
  During his 20 years at the Press Democrat, Mike Parman not only 
improved the look of the paper and the quality of its journalism and 
expanded its circulation; he also became deeply involved in community 
affairs. Mike Parman served as the President of the Santa Rosa Chamber 
of Commerce, on the board of directors of the Sonoma County United Way 
and on the Advisory Board of the Green Music Center and the North Bay 
Council.
  When Mike Parman retired for health reasons in December 2005, he did 
not give up his public voice. Instead, he took to the new media, and 
began writing an Internet ``blog,'' which gave a very personal account 
of how he, his family and friends were dealing with his cancer. Mike's 
blog revealed a man facing mortality and the terrors of cancer with 
courage, compassion and good humor. Going on vacation, Mike wrote that 
his cancer was a thing that he chose to leave behind. While undergoing 
chemotherapy, he wrote that he anticipated speaking at a rally where 
``I will mop my sweating brow, gray hair will explode from my head and 
little children will run home screaming.'' And if he used medical 
marijuana, the rather straight laced Parman feared he would be ``Thrown 
in jail and forced to wear paisley pajamas the rest of my life.''
  Mike Parman's blog brought heartfelt responses from dozens of cancer 
patients and survivors, because he not only expressed his own feelings, 
but hit a universal chord.
  ``We make every moment count,'' Mike Parman wrote. ``We love deeper. 
We live deeper. We soar on hope and laughter. We appreciate everything 
and nothing is taken for granted.''
  Mr. Speaker, if only we could all live that way every day of our 
lives.

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