Dominique Paul Noth | Founding ATCA member, Milwaukee stalwart, dies at 84
Dominique Noth died June 26, 2026 at the age of 84, after serving Milwaukee as a journalist and arts critic for over sixty years. Various obituaries cite his long-term marriage to Martha Louise Noth, his nine children (several of whom have written expert and heart felt remembrances, cited below), twelve grandchildren, and admirers of many stripes. After a month-long hospitalization due to advanced COPD and heart failure, his son reports, he passed away peacefully, surrounded by family.
He was born in New York City in 1942 to a family of Holocaust refugees. He later attended Marquette University, spent some time as an actor and director for the university’s influential Teatro Maria, and began working at The Milwaukee Journal in the 1960s as news copy editor, then a Green Sheet editor, writing reviews on the side, then two decades as drama and film critic, and later senior editor. He was among the founders of the American Theatre Critics Association, now called the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association (ATCA).
He was tapped by the publisher of the combined Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for special projects and as online news producer before voluntarily departing in the mid-1990s to run online news seminars and write. He taught a course on film in the 1970s and 1980s at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. From 2002 to 2013 he ran the monthly Milwaukee Labor Press as editor and continued to write about culture in outlets including Urban Milwaukee.
A celebration of life for Dominique Paul Noth will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 2, at Turner Hall in Milwaukee, with a gathering and reception followed by a memorial tribute at 4 p.m.
In lieu of flowers donate to the Dominique Paul Noth Memorial Fund in support of the arts, civic life, and community.
– Submitted by Martha Wade Steketee
Additional coverage:
June 26, 2026 Ferrick Funeral Home
June 30, 2026, Shepherd Express, “Remembering Dominique Noth” (David Luhrssen)
July 1, 2026, Urban Milwaukee, “Remembering Dominique Noth” (Bruce Murphy)
July 5, 2026 “Remembering Dominique Noth” (Paul Noth) [note: this written by Dom Noth’s son and posted on Noth’s legacy substack account]
July 23, 2026, Milwaukee Magazine, “Remembering My Father, Theater Critic Dominique Noth” (Jeannie Noth Gaffigan)
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