They say that the really good newspapermen don’t bleed red — theirs is black for the ink that pumps through their veins.

Harry Whiteley, of Rogers City, was one of the good guys. No, he was one of the great newspapermen of Michigan.

This week, Harry passed away at his now home in Petoskey, just five days short of his 101st birthday. Northeast Michigan, and the entire state, lost a great historian, conservationist, newspaperman, and family man.

Whiteley was a leader, whether at the Presque Isle County Advance, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission, the Michigan Press Association, or seemingly hundreds of other groups and boards he served on over the years. Up until his death, he still was sharing his opinions through a newspaper column with the residents of the region.

Whiteley took his role as a newspaperman seriously as he always strived to be fair and accurate in his reporting as he captured the news of Presque Isle County for the Advance.

And, because he was so active on regional and state boards and commissions, he gladly became an ambassador of Northeast Michigan wherever he went. Whiteley loved to share stories of the beauty and appeal of the region to others, who he then invited Up North to see for themselves.

We suspect if journalist Clark Kent wasn’t fictional, his Superman cape could easily have been worn by Whiteley.

The region lost a good friend this week.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Betty and the rest of the family he left behind.

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(THE ALPENA NEWS)