Glenn F. Sorlie
1947-1995

Inducted June 19, 2003

Although his time in Montana was brief, spanning the years from 1987 to 1995, Glenn F. Sorlie made his mark with the Belgrade High Country Independent Press and his overall contributions to his profession for more than 27 years.

The son of a publisher of North Dakota’s Bismarck Tribune, Sorlie parlayed a master’s degree in business and his experience in working for his father’s paper into an executive career with some of the nation’s most respected news organizations.

By the early 1980s, Sorlie had joined the marketing department at The Miami Herald and quickly rose through the paper’s administrative ranks. Within a year, he was administrative assistant to the general manager. He helped guide the paper’s 1981 expansion, greatly increasing its press capacity as well as its mailroom, newsroom and corporate headquarters.

Sorlie was named the Herald’s personnel director in 1982, overseeing a staff of 4,370. It was also at the Herald that he met his future wife, Devon. They were married in August of 1984.

Later that year, Sorlie joined McClatchy Newspapers in Gilroy, Calif., as publisher of two dailies and a semi-weekly, whose business and production departments he managed to consolidate without cutting staff.

When McClatchy went public, Sorlie decided to pursue his dream of owning a weekly newspaper in the Rocky Mountains. Belgrade’s High Country Independent Press suited those needs, and he and Devon purchased the paper in September of 1987.

He worked to market the newspaper beyond Belgrade, going into Bozeman and other nearby communities to sell ads. The paper also began to expand its news coverage throughout western Gallatin County.

Sorlie’s duties included taking photos, which he loved, and writing editorials, a practice many small newspapers had abandoned. Those efforts were reflected in the many awards he received from the annual Montana Newspaper Association contests for his editorials.

Sorlie was elected a director of the MNA in 1992. At his untimely death on May 2, 1995, he was aiming to expand his paper into Three Forks and Willow Creek, a plan that was carried through by Devon and members of his staff.

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