VIRGINIA â Chris Knight, publisher of the former Mesabi Daily News and now Mesabi Tribune, is remembering Bill Hanna as a committed journalist who wasnât afraid to take on any issue in search of the truth. Knight s words are those echoed by many colleagues and friends in remarks to the Mesabi Tribune in the wake of Hanna s death.
Hanna, former executive editor of the Mesabi Daily News and award-winning journalist, died early Monday morning, January 11, at his home in Virginia/Mountain Iron.
Hanna had been with the Mesabi Daily News from the mid-1980s until 2016, when he had a life-changing heart attack. He successfully underwent a heart transplant in 2017, receiving the heart of a young man who had died tragically. Later Hanna was diagnosed with terminal cancer, for which he had radiation and chemotherapy until December. He had been in hospice care since December 24. Hanna had been with the paper more than 30 years, joining the staff in the mid-1980s and serving as mana