Former Pacific Sun publisher Stephen McNamara died of natural causes at his home in Mill Valley on November 24, 2025. He was 91.
McNamara operated the Pacific Sun for 38 years, until its sale to Embarcadero Media in 2004. It remains the longest-running alternative newsweekly in the United States.
The grandson of the founder of schoolbook publisher Scott Foresman, McNamara was born in Chicago and raised in Urbana, Illinois, by his mother and stepfather, a Shakespearean academic. McNamara graduated from Princeton University, which his grandfather, father and son also attended.
He began his career as a reporter working for the Twin-City Sentinel in North Carolina in 1955. He moved to California in 1960 and took a job at the San Francisco Examiner, where he worked his way up to Sunday editor. He purchased the Sun after six years at the Examiner, in 1966.
He was a founder and the first president of the National Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, now the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN). Following his sale of the Sun to the Palo Alto publishing group, he led the revival of the award-winning San Quentin News inside California’s oldest state prison.
McNamara married Kay Copeland on September 22, 1976. Their marriage of nearly 50 years produced six children: Kevin, a film assistant director; Chris, a rock climber and BASE jumper; Natalie, a magazine publisher in Sonoma County; Marisa, a former San Francisco assistant district attorney; Lise, an occupational therapist in Denmark; and Morgan, a project manager for Apple in Japan.
A celebration of life will be held Thursday, August 6, 2026, at 2pm at The Outdoor Art Club in Mill Valley.
I had been a fan of Steve’s writing since reading articles by him when I was a teenager. In 1993, there was an opening for a weekly columnist. I found out about it late and slid my rèsumè and clips under the office door on the last day they were taking submissions.
Steve called and invited me in to learn more. He said that the pool of interested writers had been narrowed down to ten, and I was one of them. Each writer had an assignment, he said, which was to produce an example of the weekly column that they would write. I took the task seriously and went to work looking for events to attend and observing interesting people and situations. When it was time to write the column, I ventured over to the Civic Center branch of the Marin County Library, where past issues of the Pacific Sun are stored on microfiche. I searched for articles with Steve’s byline and in writing my column, attempted to mimic his writing style.
I turned in my writing, and a week later got a call from Steve. I had written the best column, he said, and he invited me down to the office in Mill Valley. He greeted me as I entered the door, and after some pleasantries, handed me two sets of documents.
“Here is the column that you wrote,” he said. “And here is my rewrite.”
The last time that I saw Steve was several years ago. He and Kay were at Costco in Novato enjoying hotdogs in the food court. I stopped to say hello and we chatted for a bit.
As I left them, I reflected, as I have been doing since learn8mg of his passing, about a relationship that changed my life. Working at The Sun under Steve’s guidance made me a better writer and led to other professional writing jobs. He taught me how to look for “the dog in the room,” and other things that add color to a story.
I thought about how being a part of “Marin’s Best Every Week” was more than just a slogan at the Pacific Sun. It is what Steve McNamara strived for — and achieved.
Hi Alex! Thank you so much for your kind words about my dad and the impact he had on your life. He truly cared about supporting others in journalism, especially younger people starting out. Whenever someone was working on a meaningful community project, he’d cheer them on—and often slip in a helpful referral or two to give them a boost. He was a writer through and through, with a real mentor’s heart for the craft. In his retirement, some of his happiest moments came from working with the residents at San Quentin, teaching them journalism skills through the San Quentin News. He loved being there and helping lift others up. He is deeply missed.
Kay McNamara, although a beloved step-mother, is the mother of Chris and Morgan. Marissa is adopted. Lise, Natalie and Kevin are from my father’s first marriage. Small, yet significant fact. Kay did not have six kids although we all love her as if she did.