Robert Wayne Wells was born in 1920 in Greene, Ohio. Wells began his journalism
career in 1940, working on three newspapers in Ohio: the Canton Repository, the Warren
Tribune-Chronicle, and the Columbus
Dispatch. After serving in the Navy in World War II, Wells joined the
staff of the Milwaukee Journal in 1946. During his
career at the Journal, Wells worked as a reporter, an
assistant city editor, a correspondent in New York, a columnist, and a book editor.
Wells retired from the Journal in 1985.
In addition to Wells’ work in journalism, he wrote a number of books and articles.
Wells’ books include: Wisconsin in the Civil War
(1964); Fire at Peshtigo (1968); Lombardi: his life and times (1971); Mean on Sunday: the autobiography of Ray Nitschke
(1973); We have with us today: W. A. Krueger Co.,
1934-1974 (1974); Milwaukee’s Newspapers
(1975); Yesterday’s Milwaukee (1976); Daylight in the Swamp (1978); Fire and Ice: two deadly Wisconsin disasters (1983); and Papa Floribunda: a biography of Eugene S. Boerner
(1989). He died in 1995.
