Dennis E. Curran

Dennis Edward Curran (August 17, 1944 - April 8, 2012) was a journalist from the U.S. states of Montana and Wyoming. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, Curran in 1966 received a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His father, also a journalist,was the news editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison. In 1970, Curran began working for Lee Enterprise newspapers in Missoula, Montana. He later became the capitol bureau chief in Helena and covered state and legislative matters for four Montana newspapers. In 1978, he moved to Cheyenne to become the Associated Press reporter. There he met his future wife, the former Wendy Peryam, whom he wed in 1985. They moved to Helena, where he worked this time in the Montana AP office. In 1987, Curran and his family returned to Cheyenne, where he became the press secretary for Governor Michael J. Sullivan, a Democrat who was elected in 1986 without previous political experience. After his work for Sullivan ended in 1994, he became a consultant and freelance writer for various clients until 2000, when he established the Wyoming Business Report. In April 2011, Curran retired from his full-time position to become editor emeritus, in which capacity he still penned occasional columns and articles. He was also a partner in the marketing firm of Curran and Curran Consultants. Curran died of complications from diabetes. In addition to his wife, he was survived by two daughters, Katie Ockers Powell and her husband, Chris, of Laramie and Laura Elizabeth Curran and her son, Timothy Michael Alan, of Cheyenne; two sisters, Jane Curran Johnson and her husband, Gary, of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Mary Curran of Madison, Wisconsin. Services were held at the First Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne. According to his obituary, Curran had great interest in flyfishing and had visited forty-nine states and was planning to travel to the remaining state, Arkansas, in the summer of 2012. With "ink in his blood and Wyoming in his heart," he left a lasting legacy on journalism in Wyoming.