Prize-winning ag writer dies at 60

Ann Toner Gottwald understood agricultural issues and made sense of them for her readers over her 35-year career.

The award-winning agricultural journalist died Saturday at St. Mary Community Hospital in Nebraska City after battling cancer, said her brother, award-winning journalist Michael Toner. Gottwald was 60.

Her work at The World-Herald from 1989 to 1997 earned her several awards. She used “Ann Toner” for her byline.

“Ann had an amazing knowledge of agricultural issues,” said Deanna Sands, retired World-Herald managing editor. “She understood the complexities of agriculture and she knew how to make them clear, even to those who were not in the industry.”

Gottwald met daily with farmers and others in agriculture for her stories, Sands said.

Iowa native Gottwald was born in Cherokee and grew up in Humboldt. She did not start out wanting to cover farm and ranch life, said Michael Toner, a Pulitzer Prize winner who is retired and lives in Atlanta. But she owned horses, and an editor may have figured she had knowledge of farm life, he said.

Gottwald began her news career at a Florida newspaper but found her way back to Iowa, where she wrote for two newspapers. In her career, she wrote for 10 publications, including in Lincoln and Kansas City, Mo.

She won the National Association of Agricultural Journalists (now North American Agricultural Journalists) top writing award as ag journalist of the year in 1983, and in 1985 she was the organization’s president.

Gottwald's final articles were published in this month's issue of Nebraska Farmer, the publication she had worked for since leaving The World-Herald.

Besides her brother, Gott- wald's survivors include her husband, Allen Gottwald, and son, Alex, of Nebraska City.

A rosary will be 7 p.m. Wednesday at Gude Mortuary in Nebraska City. The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Joseph Catholic Church near Paul, Neb., southwest of Nebraska City.

Contact the writer:

444-1304, news@owh.com

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