Complete Story
10/11/2017
Former Lima News editor, columnist Diane Pacetti dies
Former managing editor of The Lima News, Diane Pacetti, died Monday in Lima. She was 66.
She was born Nov. 22, 1950, in LaSalle, Illinois, to Dustin and Frances Pacetti, who preceded her in death.
Pacetti retired from The Lima News in 2012. She had worked more than 15 years at the newspaper, beginning as its city editor before being promoted to managing editor. She also penned a weekly column on Sundays.
Pacetti came to The Lima News from Peoria, Illinois, where she taught journalism at Bradley University. Before that, she worked for The Associated Press in the Chicago bureau and as a correspondent in Wausau, Wisconsin. Pacetti also worked for the Kankakee Daily Journal, the Canton Daily Ledger and the Newton Press-Mentor, all in Illinois.
Pacetti was hired at The Lima News on July 15, 1996, by former editor, Ray Sullivan.
“When I hired Diane as our city editor I knew I had a very experienced hand who had grown up in the Midwest and would understand Midwestern values. She had a great sense of journalism, both in ethics and how to edit stories and how to work with reporters to develop stories. And she had, most important of all, a great sense of humor,” Sullivan said.
Readers of The Lima News will remember Pacetti’s witty columns on Page 2A of the Sunday newspaper where she gave readers a personal glimpse of her life. In was in her columns that readers learned of her love of cats and reading and her hatred of winter. She gave the readers part of herself through her writing, and many readers could identify with her.
Editor Jim Krumel called her an exceptional journalist.
“Diane loved meeting and talking with people. She felt everyone had a story to tell. That’s what made her so good,” Krumel said.
Pacetti was a mentor to all who worked with her. Karen Jantzi worked with Pacetti at The Lima News for 10 years. Jantzi was the city editor while Pacetti was the managing editor.
“She was very diligent in how she pursued the truth in news and that was most important to her. And truth wasn’t just the cold hard facts, truth was what was the emotion, how was it affecting other people, it was the whole story. She was diligent in her pursuit of that. She looked at what the news was and how to put it out there for the public. She really mentored and shared her wisdom with me in ways that helped me be better at what I did,” Jantzi said. “She was a great mentor and a great friend. I will miss her.”
