Tempe resident and newspaper publisher Don Kirkland, 89, who realized in elementary school that his future would revolve around the written word, died Sept. 2.

He most recently worked as the publisher of the Wrangler News Independent, penning opinion columns under the header “From the Desk of Don Kirkland” and news features on Tempe and Chandler. A versatile journalist, he recently wrote and snapped photos to cover an event in the far East Valley when community members met to remember an Apache Junction police officer killed in the line of duty.

Kirkland began a lifelong journalism career at the age of 10 when he published a small neighborhood newspaper in his hometown of Glendale, California. He wrote in a May 29, 2019, commentary in the Tempe & West Chandler Wrangler News that in sixth

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