Daniel Bice, a renowned and longtime columnist and political reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, died on Tuesday, his 62nd birthday, from complications due to esophageal cancer.
His uncompromising style of reporting often ruffled feathers while earning the respect of co-workers, competing journalists and – as evidenced by the deluge of statements Tuesday from politicians across the spectrum – even the public officials whose bad conduct he exposed.
“No one was better at what they do than Dan Bice. He called out everyone,” longtime Associated Press statehouse correspondent Scott Bauer posted on X. “Everyone was his source. He broke more news than anyone else in Wisconsin. Republican, Democrat and everyone in between came to Dan. He was thorough. He was fair. He was a pro. He will be missed.”
Bice’s final byline, with the headline “Republicans mix up two Black governor candidates in online post,” appeared in the Journal Sentinel on Jan. 13.
“Dan was a force, an institution and a bedrock of our political coverage for 30-plus years,” Journal Sentinel Executive Editor Greg Borowski said in a statement to Milwaukee Magazine. “He had a deep source list, a nose for a story and a fearless quality when it came to reporting. He was willing to ask every difficult question, and accept the blowback that came with it.”
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Bice’s death is a “blow to the community, the profession and especially for our team here at the Journal Sentinel,” Borowski said.
Marty Kaiser, who had a distinguished two-decade career in Milwaukee before stepping down in 2015 as editor/senior vice president of the Journal Sentinel, said in an interview with Milwaukee Magazine on Tuesday that Bice had a knack for cultivating great sources.
“He just was wonderful, and no one could bullshit him,” Kaiser said. “Dan had the great reporter line, ‘If your mother says she loves you, check it out.’ He had the respect of so many people.”
A Short Battle With Cancer
Bice announced on Dec. 1, 2025, that he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. “Because the tumor was caught late, the prognosis isn’t ideal, but we are hoping for the best,” Bice wrote in a Facebook post at that time, while noting that he had received an immediate call of support from Gov. Tony Evers, an esophageal cancer survivor.
“Esophageal cancer is so cruel and vicious – it can steal someone’s life in a flash. It was really hard to hear that Dan lost his hard-fought fight this morning,” Evers said in a statement sent to Milwaukee Magazine. “Dan and I kept in touch on occasion and we’d talk about the things that helped and worked. I just wish it had been enough. I’ll remember him for how he lived, approached his work, and how he fought until the end – unflappable, relentless and indefatigable.”
Milwaukee Press Club President and Journal Sentinel business reporter Tom Daykin, in a statement to Milwaukee Magazine, said Bice “loved being a journalist who worked so hard to make sure citizens knew what their elected officials and others in power were doing.
“His passionate, unbiased reporting will be sorely missed,” Daykin said.
Journal Sentinel state politics reporter Molly Beck, in a social media post, described her colleague as “fearless” and “determined” and said he “cared more about telling the truth to readers than anyone I’ve ever worked with.”
“He often broke national news and dug into local stories with the same tenacity. Above all, he was a kind colleague and friend who was never too busy to help. He will be sorely missed,” Beck wrote.
Another Journal Sentinel reporter, Hope Karnopp, wrote on X: “Can’t express how much it meant to learn from Bice in my first few years in the newsroom, even just listening from afar how he talked to sources with respect.”
A Different Kind of Column
Bice had served as a columnist with the Journal Sentinel since 1992 and launched his “No Quarter” watchdog column in 2007. He previously co-wrote the well-read “Spivak & Bice” column with fellow reporter Carey Spivak.
Kaiser recalled how he came up with the plan for the column.
“I was fascinated by doing a different kind of column,” Kaiser told Milwaukee Magazine. “I came up with this idea of putting two people together and making it a reported column. We didn’t need another opinion column, but I gave this a little bit of freedom that a column has but really had it grounded in reporting.”
Kaiser ended up selecting Bice and Spivak for the column.
“We talked a lot about the name. We decided Dan’s name couldn’t be first because then Bice and Spivak could have been BS,” Kaiser recalled. “They were both great reporters. They took it beyond my wildest dreams.”
A lengthy profile of the duo, under the headline The Spice Boys, appeared in Milwaukee Magazine in December 2001, in which author Peter Robertson describes Bice as “an assassin with a pen.” The story came together during a time in which rumors began circulating about a scandal involving then-Mayor John Norquist.
After chance encounter with Norquist in an elevator, Bice and Spivak bolted back to the newsroom and wrote a column that cast a dark shadow of suspicion on the mayor. The story notes that many readers saw the column as “old-school investigative journalism at its best,” calling Spivak and Bice Milwaukee’s own Woodward and Bernstein. Critics in the story argued the column was “tabloid gossip,” accusing the reporters of exaggerating the truth to feed their own egos.
A ‘Pillar of Wisconsin’s Political Landscape’
Bice’s reporting continued to generate similar reactions over his remaining years on the job.
“Dan had his biases, as do we all, and was certainly an aggressive reporter, but I always found him willing to listen and even admit that his initial reaction to something was wrong,” said Rick Esenberg, president of Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a Milwaukee-based conservative think tank, in a posted on X.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin described Bice, in a post on X, as “a force in Wisconsin journalism and politics. No one was too powerful or off limits from his reporting, and Wisconsinites are better for that coverage and his pursuit of the truth,” Baldwin wrote.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley called Bice a “pillar of Wisconsin’s political landscape.”
“His commitment to nonpartisan, honest reporting set the standard for journalism by holding public figures accountable and informing generations of Wisconsinites,” Crowley said in a statement. “He was truly one of a kind, and his passing leaves a profound void in Milwaukee and across this state that cannot easily be filled.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong called Bice a “mentor to many and a fierce advocate for local journalism,” Hong wrote in a social media post. “His commitment to transparency and accountability was a public service that honored democracy.”
A native of West Virginia, Bice worked in his home state as a reporter for the Charleston Daily Mail from 1987 to 1991. His work in Wisconsin began in the Madison bureau of the Milwaukee Sentinel before it merged with the Journal in 1995.
In a November profile of Bice in the Journal Sentinel, Bice said he had a “couple thousand” phone numbers of politicians stored in his phone. “Some Wisconsin politicians don’t even know I have their cell numbers, which is the way I like it,” Bice said.
Bice is survived by his wife, Jessica Hodgson, and his children Zachary, Sophie and Raney.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
