Andrew Patner (December 17, 1959 – February 3, 2015) was an American Chicago-based journalist, broadcaster, critic, and interviewer. Patner was born in Chicago and attended

Kenwood Academy Kenwood Academy is a comprehensive public four-year high school, with a middle school magnet program for gifted students, located in the Kenwood neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Operated by the Chicago Public Sc ...

. He went on to attend the

College of the University of Chicago The College of the University of Chicago is the university's sole undergraduate institution and one of its oldest components, emerging contemporaneously with the university's Hyde Park campus in 1892. The College is notable for pioneering a now-w ...

, where he served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper,

The Chicago Maroon ''The Chicago Maroon'', the independent student newspaper of the University of Chicago, is a biweekly publication founded in 1892. During the academic year, ''The Maroon'' publishes every other Wednesday. The paper consists of seven sections: ...

from 1979 to 1980. Patner received a BA in history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1985. He attended the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It employs more than 180 full-time and part-time facul ...

, but left the program in 1988 to further pursue a career in journalism. His book, ''I.F. Stone: a portrait'', about the iconoclastic journalist I.F. Stone was published in the same year. From 1989 to 1990, Patner served as a staff reporter for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. Beginning in 1991, Patner was a regular contributor of arts criticism to the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

. Patner contributed over 2,000 pieces of arts criticism covering a broad range of topics including music, dance, books, and film. Beginning in 2006, he served as the publication's classical music and opera critic. Patner worked for Chicago's National Public Radio affiliate

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the tri-state region of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is f ...

for eight years as an arts critic, program host, and producer. He also served as critic-at-large for

WFMT WFMT (98.7 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, with a classical music radio format. It is part of Window to the World Communications, Inc, in the same company as Chicago's PBS member station WTTW. WFMT seeks donations ...

Fine Arts Radio, where he hosted a weekly program called "Critical Thinking" from 1998 until his death in 2015. While working as editor-in-chief for the Chicago Maroon in 1979, Patner began covering LGBT subjects, including the first

National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights The first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C., on October 14, 1979. The first such march on Washington, it drew between 75,000 and 125,000Ghaziani, Amin. 2008. ...

. In 1993, Patner became the first regular writer for a mainstream Chicago newspaper to write about being gay. His partner of 25 years, Tom Bachtell, is an acclaimed illustrator for

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

magazine. Patner died suddenly in 2015.Levy, Paul
"Andrew Patner: Journalist whose eclectic career encompassed the life of Chicago, classical music, cultural matters and politics"
April 30, 2015. Retrieved on March 14, 2016.sarahtr
"Arts critic Andrew Patner dies at 55; versatile Chicago writer, radio host"
February 3, 2015. Retrieved on March 14, 2016.

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* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patner, Andrew 1959 births Chicago Sun-Times people LGBTQ people from Illinois 2015 deaths Radio personalities from Illinois 21st-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century American LGBTQ people Kenwood Academy alumni