Joel Connelly, Iconic Northwest Journalist, dies at 78

Joel Connelly, considered by many to be the Dean of Seattle political journalism, died on April 15, the victim of a long battle with diabetes. He resided for many years in Madrona neighborhood and on Whidbey Island. Oddly, as a tough journalist, he was widely loved both by friends and sources, as well as by residents of Horizon House, and particularly his caretakers, where he courageously lived his last few years as his body wore out.

A working journalist right to the end, Joel’s last article of the 528 he wrote for Post Alley, was published on the last day of his life, just hours after he passed. He went out strong, relishing life and revered for his story-telling and amazing memory.

Connelly grew up in Bellingham, went to college at Notre Dame and the University of Washington. He worked for 47 years at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, starting in 1973. As a reporter he interviewed four presidents and many prime ministers of Canada (a specialty), chronicled the preservation of wilderness (hiking much of it), and doggedly wrote about the failure of the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS), a misbegotten effort to build nuclear power plants, for which he was a runner-up for a Pulitzer Prize.

His outspoken attorney and partner was the characterful Michelle Palethorp, and her children adored their stepfather. He was fiercely loyal to “Mickey,” the Catholic Church, Notre Dame football, classical music, his poodles, backcountry hiking with his friends, and (perhaps surprisingly) the Hearst Corporation, which owned the P-I. As a friend said, he was “a giant heart.”

I was a neighbor of Joel’s and his editor at Post Alley. He was a beloved mainstay of a Madrona institution, the years-long Tuesday breakfasts at the Hi-Spot Cafe. A highlight of each Christmas were the parties Joel threw at his jam-packed home, to which all kinds of politicians and journalists beat a path. As a friend observed, Joel was put on this earth to write and report, and a steady stream of contextual, sly articles flowed from him, right up to the last day.