24 June 2024
Dennis Hoey, a longtime reporter at the Portland Press Herald, died over the weekend.
Hoey, who suffered a heart attack while playing basketball in February, died at his home in Freeport on Saturday, according to the Portland Press Herald.
He was 69.
Hoey spent the majority of his career reporting for newspapers in his hometown of Portland. He spent some time reporting at the Waltham Tribune in Massachusetts after graduating from the University of Maine in Orono. Hoey then worked at the Portland Evening Express before joining the Press Herald in 1990, where he spent the rest of his career, according to the newspaper.
Steve Greenlee, executive editor of the Press Herald, described Hoey as a “rock star” whose work as a night reporter got the newspaper “through a lot of tough nights.”
In a Press Herald story marking his passing, Hoey’s colleagues remembered him as capable of being both sensitive and persistent when talking with people and for his ability to get sources on the record after hours.
“He had an uncanny touch with everyone from bad guys to politicians to grieving families,” Jeff Ham told the Press Herald, where as city editor he worked with Hoey.
He is survived by his wife, Joyce Earle; and their son, Kevin.