Hartford (AP) _ John Breen, a journalism professor who taught at the University of Connecticut for more than three decades, has died. He was 71.

Breen, of Manchester, died Wednesday of complications from vascular dementia, his son Tom Breen said.

He taught at UConn from 1968 until his retirement in 2003.

Journalism Department head Maureen Croteau said Breen cared deeply about each of his students and was the best lecturer she knew.

"He loved journalism and he loved teaching. It was a wonderful combination," Croteau said.

Tom Breen said his father took pride in pointing out bylines of his former students as he tracked their careers at various publications.

"I think he was always proud when he saw in students a love for journalism similar to the kind of love he had for the business," Breen said.

A Chicago native, Breen attended the University of Illinois and worked for the Champaign-Urbana Courier and the Knickerbocker News in Albany, N.Y., before joining the UConn faculty.

He co-wrote a journalism textbook, "Reporting and Writing the News," which was published in 1988.

He also was a former chairman of the Board of Education for Lebanon.