John Kostrzewa worked for 42 years in the newspaper industry, including the last 29 at The Providence Journal as a business reporter, columnist, business editor and assistant managing editor.

He retired from the Journal in 2017 and spent the next three years as an adjunct professor at Bryant University, where he taught a Writing Workshop course to first year students.

In 2020 during the pandemic, he began writing freelance stories for the Journal about business and economics. In January 2021, he launched “Walking Rhode Island,” a column online and in the Sunday Providence Journal about hiking in the state. Since then, he has written more than 100 columns.

A College of the Holy Cross graduate, Kostrzewa also worked at the Worcester (Mass.) Post, Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune and Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal.