Frank R. Neu, journalist, editor and public relations director, was born December 20, 1920, at Fort Dodge, Iowa. After education in schools in Fort Snelling and St. Paul, Minnesota, Neu received a B.A. degree in sociology from the University of Chicago in 1941.
As a result of an interest in newspaper journalism that dated from his high school years, Neu began his career shortly after graduation from college; during the early 1940's he was on the staff of the Monroe County Democrat and the Sparta Herald, both in Sparta, Wisconsin. In 1945 Neu published a magazine, Country Correspondent, (later known as the Country Newsletter). The following year he became associate editor of the Courier Wedge of Durand, Wisconsin.
In 1947 Neu purchased the Glenwood City (Wisc.) Tribune. During the five years that he edited this paper, Neu became one of Wisconsin's best known rural journalists. He was particularly well known for his column “Dairy Report” and for a booklet published in 1952 entitled Co-operatives: Agriculture's Best Bet.
Because of his support of the dairy industry, in 1952 the Wisconsin division of the American Dairy Association (ADA) hired Neu as director of public relations. In 1953 he accepted a similar position in the ADA's national office in Chicago, a post which he continued to hold until his death in 1968.
