Wade Nelson dies at 70; journalist went on to work for Dixon, Daley

Wade Nelson was a respected journalist and political troubleshooter.

But when he walked into Chicago nightclubs, the singers and musicians knew it was going to be a fun night.

When they started a tune, he knew all the words — and the year it was written.

It wasn’t one-upmanship. He loved the Great American Songbook and composers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and Hoagy Carmichael. And the musicians were delighted to know someone out in the darkness loved the standards as much as they did.

“I’d think, he couldn’t possibly know this song, a 1929 song,” said pianist and conductor Jon Weber. “He’d start singing along.”

“When he started the chemotherapy, he emailed me to tell me he was listening to one of my CDs — which he knew better than I did,” said singer-pianist Daryl Sherman.

Mr. Nelson, 70, died Tuesday of gall bladder cancer at his North Side home.

In May, he was able to attend a game at Wrigley Field. “It was a picture-perfect day,” said friend Hanke Gratteau, who, like Mr. Nelson, is a former “legman” for legendary newspaper columnist Mike Royko. “Wade had to go in a wheelchair, but he was happy about when you go in a wheelchair, you get one of the best seats in the house. As sick as he was, he looked on the bright side.”

After earning a journalism degree from the University of Missouri, he worked at City News Bureau, the Wilmette Life, the Chicago Daily News and the Baltimore Sun.

Around 1980, he shifted to political strategy and messaging. He served as communications director for Sen. Alan J. Dixon (D-Ill.), as a campaign manager for Aurelia Pucinski, and as a speechwriter for Mayor Richard M. Daley.

In later years, he distributed grant money for the Kellogg Foundation. “He always said no matter where he went, he was always the smartest, funniest guy in the room, because people knew he gave away money,” said his wife Ellen Warren, a Chicago Tribune columnist.

He grew up in River Forest. When he graduated in 1965 from Fenwick High School, the Top 40 included “Help” by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.” But he stuck to jazz radio stations. “Wade was definitely going against the grain, musically,” said friend Terry Kelleher, retired TV critic for People magazine.

Still, in 1969, young Wade drove to New York to attend Woodstock, the legendary rock music festival. “He was up for any adventure,” said Kelleher.

He also was up for any investigation. According to a 1985 article in the Christian Science Monitor, Royko once received two rolls of toilet paper at the Daily News from a lawyer who complained judges were issued a better quality tissue than the rolls in the public restrooms.

At Royko’s direction, Wade Nelson set off to the courthouse. “He went to various public washrooms and neatly folded and labelled samples,” said Gratteau, who went on to become an award-winning Chicago Tribune managing editor.

During an interview with a judge, he managed to visit his restroom, obtaining a toilet paper sample far fluffier than the flimsy tissue in the public lavatories. Gratteau said she’ll never forget Mr. Nelson describing “how he pulled the samples out of the briefcase to ask, ‘Judge, can you explain to me why this is?’ ”

Mr. Nelson “had a wonderful sense of humor, but it was gentle,” said Lois Wille, a two-time Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who worked at the Daily News, Sun-Times and Tribune.

He had a journalist’s love of research and a prodigious memory that enabled him to converse on anything from gastronomy to frog calls. Back when Mr. Nelson’s friends were learning to drive, Kelleher said, he’d already mastered the intricacies of Lower Wacker Drive.

Mr. Nelson met Ellen when they worked at City News. At their wedding, they danced to “It Could Happen to You,” a beloved standard with the lyrics, “Keep an eye on spring, run when church bells ring. It could happen to you.”

Mr. Nelson prized a Chicago Cubs belt that she needlepointed for him.

His pets were named for musical greats. He had two dogs, Jelly Roll and Bix, and a cat, Django, in honor of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

Mr. Nelson’s favorite clubs included Acorn on Oak, the Coq d’Or, the Green Mill, and anywhere the late Buddy Charles was playing piano and singing, said Bern Colleran, a retired WGN-TV assignment manager.

He is also survived by his sons Ted and Emmett; a sister, Karen Nelson, and a brother, Ted. A celebration of life is planned at 2 p.m. Oct. 7 at Unity Temple, 875 Lake St., Oak Park.