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A woman named one of the state's 150 most important people by the Minnesota Historical Society has died. 


Veda Ponikvar, a newspaper publisher, editor and writer in Chisholm for 50 years, passed away Tuesday at the age of 96. 

She founded the Chisholm Free Press in 1947. 


Over the years she helped inform and shape public opinion on important Iron Range issues like mining, labor rights and preservation of the wilderness.  


MPR's Cathy Wurzer spoke with Wanda Moeller, who got to know Ponikvar when Moeller was publisher of the Hibbing Daily Tribune and the Chisholm Herald.

Ponikvar passed away Tuesday at the age of 96. She was named one of the state's 150 most important people by the Minnesota Historical Society.

A woman named by the Minnesota Historical Society as one of the state's 150 most important people has died. Veda Ponikvar, a newspaper publisher, editor and writer in Chisholm for 50 years, passed away yesterday at the age of 96. She founded the Chisholm Free Press in 1947.  Over the years she helped inform and shape public opinion on important Iron Range issues like mining, labor rights and preservation of the wilderness.  MPR's Cathy Wurzer spoke with Wanda Moeller, who got to know Ponikvar when Moeller was publisher of the Hibbing Daily Tribune and the Chisholm Herald.

Ponikvar was influential voice on Iron Range

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