Aukofer elected Head Hoot of Silver Owls

The Council of Wisest Owls has elected Frank A. Aukofer as the Head Hoot of the Silver Owls, an organization within the National Press Club for members with 25 years or more of membership.

Aukofer had been filling in for Head Hoot Arthur E. F. Wiese, who was stricken with a brain aneurysm on election day in 2012 and died in April 2016.

Wiese served as Club president in 1979. Aukofer, retired Washington bureau chief of the Milwaukee Journal and Journal Sentinel, was president in 1978. Together, they received the Order of the Owl in 2009 from the Silver Owls. The honor is awarded to “birds of a unique species, weathered and wise, who have nested at the National Press Club and demonstrated that they give a hoot for Washington journalism.” Other recipients have included John Cosgrove, Mark Russell, Art Buchwald, Austin Kiplinger, Bernard Goodrich, Don Larrabee, Allan Cromley, Andy Rooney, Charles Overby and Helen Thomas.

The Silver Owls’ Spring Hoot will be held in May.