Wisconsin
Honorees
2012
Jim Cullen
Jim Cullen served the Managing Editor at Today’s TMJ4 in Milwaukee, where he ran the Assignment Desk for 15 plus years. The consummate news junkie, Jim knew instinctively which stories to chase and how to catch them. He coordinated coverage of everything from Super Bowls to the Olympics to high profile court cases. Prior his time at Today’s TMJ4, Jim served on the Assignment Desk at WISN-TV in Milwaukee, and WEAU-TV in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Jim got his start at WDUB-TV in Dubuque, Iowa back in the late 1970s. Jim was also a Wisconsin representative for the Northwest News Broadcast News Association. A true journalist, Jim relished his life as a broadcaster since 1982. Jim passed away on October 16, 2013.
Joyce Garbaciak
Joyce Garbaciak is a veteran broadcaster and journalist and serves as co-anchor of the WISN 12 News at 6:00 and 10:00.
Joyce has some 30 years in the Milwaukee television market, and in that time has had one-on-one interviews with President Barack Obama, President Bill Clinton and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan. An investigative series she reported led to a change in Wisconsin law regarding the posting of code violations at day-care centers. She is a seven-time Chicago regional Emmy® Award winner, and a documentary on bullying that she hosted went on to win national recognition with the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award.
In 2012, Joyce was inducted into the Silver Circle, a lifetime achievement honor bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
In early 2005, Joyce left WITI-TV after 17 years as a primary news anchor and reporter. At one point, she successfully anchored three daily newscasts including the 10 p.m. report. She joined WISN in 2006 because the position allowed her to work part time on fulfilling, meaningful projects and still be more hands-on at home with her family.
Joyce received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Northwestern University's prestigious Medill School of Journalism, graduating with high honors and receiving an RCA/NBC Fellowship to complete her graduate studies. She stays active with her alma mater, serving on Northwestern's Council of 100, an invitation-only alumnae organization dedicated to mentoring and helping students transition from college to employment. Prior to coming to Milwaukee, Joyce worked as a reporter and anchor in Nashville and Wausau, and has served as visiting faculty at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think-tank in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Lil Kleimen
As Milwaukee's first female television reporter, Lillian Kleiman was considered a pioneer.
But Kleiman never thought of herself that way. Instead, the tough-nosed journalist, who spent the majority of her career at WITI-TV, always said she was just doing her job.
"She was doing what she was supposed to do, and I don't think anything else ever came to mind," said her son, Joe Kleiman.
Kleiman, who graduated from Riverside High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was best known for her doggedness as a reporter.
Jill Geisler, who called Kleiman a mentor, came to WITI in 1973 as a young reporter. Sitting in the same newsroom as Kleiman, Geisler would hear her on the phone with a government official, often changing the way she asked a question so she could get the answers she was seeking.
Geisler said Kleiman often would be at a news conference with former mayor Henry Maier, who didn't have an overly amicable relationship with the media and listen to him turn down questions other reporters asked. Kleiman would often raise her hand and ask the same thing until she got something from him. That's how she was.
"She believed in holding the powerful accountable," Geisler said.
Her reporting won accolades, and she was inducted into the Silver Circle with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Her personal relationships, however, were as important to her as professional accomplishments, Geisler said.
Geisler said Kleiman was called the "senior-ranking mom" in the WITI newsroom. The newsroom ritual required her to be the first one to hold an employee's newborn baby the first time it was brought into the office.
"She has a beautiful family, and she had a remarkable career that she would tell you she would measure through the success of others," Geisler said.
Joe Kleiman said his mother was always able to separate her work life from home and was a down-to-earth woman who always put others before herself.
She passed away on August 13, 2015.
By Nicholas Erickson of the Journal Sentinel
Tom Pipines
Longtime WITI-TV (Channel 6) sports anchor and reporter Tom Pipines spent 32 years with Milwaukee’s Fox network affiliate. A veteran on the local sports scene for over three decades, Sports Director/Anchor/Reporter Tom Pipines joined WITI-TV in 1984, following a nearly 3-year stint at WTMJ-TV Channel 4. Pipines worked at ESPN as one of its anchors/reporters just after the cable sports network went on the air in 1980. Prior to that, he worked in Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, and Ithaca, New York. He’s also called TV and radio play-by-play for baseball and basketball including the Milwaukee Bucks as well as the Marquette University college basketball. Tom graduated from Ithaca College in 1974, cum laude, with a degree in TV-Radio. “Tom Pipines has set the standard for sports in Milwaukee,” WITI-TV president and general manager Chuck Steinmetz said in a press release. “Not only has Tom brought his insights into his game analysis, he has enterprised hundreds of ‘Beyond the Game’ stories that have showcased the heart and soul of local athletes.” He’s thankful to have been asked to lend his name to a golf tournament for the Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin for the past decade. He’s been involved with several charitable organizations, including Special Olympics and Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Bill Taylor
Bill Taylor was a mainstay at WTMJ-TV Channel 4 for almost 3 decades. The award-winning anchor and reporter retired in June of 2001. At WTMJ, Taylor helped to produce and create the popular series, Positively Milwaukee. Initially it aired once a week, and eventually grew to six days a week. Throughout his tenure at WTMJ, Bill also covered Wisconsin stories in Somalia, Israel, and Germany. He received the Founders award for the first ever Positively Milwaukee Awards Dinner. Bill was inducted into the Silver Circle for his years of service by the Chicago/Midwest Chapter. Taylor was also inducted into the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame in 2001. Taylor traveled the world bringing Milwaukee stories that touched the soul. Taylor's reporting at TMJ4 included trips to Ghana and Kenya. Mr. Taylor passed away in early May 2024.
Mark Zoromski
Mark Zoromski is the director of student media and adjunct professor of journalism and media at Marquette University. He recently won the Teaching Excellence Award at Marquette. Teaching Excellence Awards are the highest honor bestowed upon Marquette faculty members. Recipients are nominated by colleagues and students for demonstrating excellence as teacher-scholars.
Zoromski formed his philosophy for teaching on his wedding day. As he looked across the crowd gathered to watch him and his wife-to-be Jill say their vows, he noticed a man sitting in the back row smiling from ear to ear. It was his college broadcast journalism professor, Henry Lippold.
While Lippold never stated his teaching philosophy outright, Zormoski felt it: “Walk into my classroom and you walk into my family.”
To this day, Zoromski strives to live and teach by this simple philosophy, expanding the family mentality not only to his classroom students, but also to the roughly 240 students involved in student media.
Zoromski, using his background in working at local news stations, has been teaching students for over two decades. He joined Marquette in June of 2016, and since then has fully embraced the Marquette spirit.
“Cura personalis defines Mark’s approach to teaching and student mentorship. Mark cares for the entire student, and he expects personal excellence, a commitment to the truth, a desire to promote social justice, and a balanced life,” Acting Provost Dr. Kimo Ah Yun said.
In addition, his impact on the quality of student work is clear. In the past two years under his guidance, journalism students have received 126 national, regional and state awards for journalistic excellence.
“I strive to treat our students with kindness and respect. I teach, push, prod, sympathize, cheer, and yes, sometimes even scold them, just like my mentor did for me,” Zoromski said. “And I’m now blessed to have a large family of alumni scattered around the world, and I’ve been the one beaming in the back pew at weddings over the past 23 years.”
Text from Urban Milwaukee.com