Lund, Eric R. (Eric Rudolph)
Dates
- Existence: 1925 - 2016
- Usage: 1925-11-01 - 2016-01-16
Biography
American journalist Eric R. Lund was born to Swedish immigrants on November 1, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois. Lund attended Northwestern University 1942-1949 (B.S. in journalism), interrupting his studies 1944-1946 for service in the United States Army. Before graduation, Lund had already started work at the Evanston Review; he continued there until 1956 (ending as political editor), when he began to work at the Chicago Daily News. He moved back to the Evanston Review as editor (1961-1966) before returning again to the Chicago Daily News (eventually becoming assistant managing editor); he worked there until just before that paper ceased publication.
Lund was a part-time lecturer at Northwestern University (1955-1966), and served as a full-time lecturer in the graduate division of Medill, 1977-1978. He worked at North Park College (now North Park University) until 1984, teaching journalism and working in the public relations department. Lund moved to Columbia College in 1984, assisting in the establishment of the graduate program in journalism.
In late 1978, Lund was hired to write a history of First Federal of Chicago. This work continued for several years (until First Federal was absorbed by Chase), but the projected book was never published. Lund also did significant research for books on Frederick Lundin, and on the "letters to the editor" section of newspapers.
Lund served as a board member of the Swedish-American Historical Society. After retiring from Columbia College in 1994, he traveled frequently, exploring his Swedish-American roots.
Eric Lund was married twice: first to Florence Johansen (1924-1989), an artist; later to Grace Carlson. He died January 16, 2016 in Evanston, Illinois.