Al Vinikour

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Updated: July 20, 2011 4:04PM

Al Vinikour has worked in marketing, sales, public relations and journalism since 1968. The first two-thirds of his career centered on aviation, aerospace and defense, working on major weapons systems when funding battles emerged.

At the time he was President of Derus Media Service, a Chicago-based mass distributor of filler material to suburban dailies and weeklies throughout the United States. With declining military projects, he gravitated toward automotive writing – something of a homecoming.

While growing up in Northwest Indiana, his family owned several automotive junkyards and this background, coupled with his writing experience and a stint as Aviation Editor of the Chicago Daily News, created a new career as an automotive journalist. Along the way he has been the recipient of numerous awards. Vinikour is currently the president of Vinikour Communications and he lives in the Detroit-area with his wife Donna, they have three children and twin grandsons.