Herald’s executive editor to retire in November

Published 11:18 pm Saturday, September 22, 2007

EVERETT — Herald executive editor Stan Strick, a journalist with a thirst for knowledge, has seen numerous changes in his 27 years at the newspaper.

He oversaw or participated in shifting the newspaper from an evening to a morning publication, beginning a Sunday edition, changing the paper’s design several times and starting the HeraldNet.com Web site.

“He has an ability to anticipate what was coming and what we should be ready for. He has an imagination to know if we did one thing, something else would follow,” said Joann Byrd, former executive editor of The Herald.

Strick succeeded Byrd as executive editor, the top person in the paper’s newsroom.

Now he will leave.

Strick, 66, has announced he will retire Nov. 2 after working in various leadership roles in the newsroom.

“I would have retired sooner if I wasn’t having fun,” Strick said.

He served as assistant city editor, city editor and managing editor before being promoted to executive editor in January 1992.

Although he had a broad vision of the newspaper industry, he had a touch for the day-to-day business of running a newspaper, Byrd said.

“He’s thorough and careful and he was always interested in making sure the news got in the paper and we were covering the news,” said Byrd, who left The Herald to become the ombudsman for The Washington Post. “He had a good sense of what that ought to be.”

The newsman in Strick stands out for former city editor Dave Peters, who now is working for an Internet news organization in Minneapolis.

“I thought he was a very good editor,” Peters said. “I learned to appreciate the immediacy of hard news from him. The idea was to get news quickly and get it in the paper.”

Strick fashioned a strategy for The Herald, focusing on the local news that metropolitan papers, news television and the Internet can’t supply.

Local news, he said, “will be the salvation of newspapers our size.”

Strick formerly worked for large daily newspapers and the United Press International news wire, where national and international news is dominant.

“I had to learn the value of local news,” he said.

Changes that have come in the paper over the years were meant to tailor the paper to the needs and interests of Snohomish County readers, he said. The most challenging was the shift from evening to morning publication.

“Everything in the place changed,” he said.

One of the big decisions Strick and Byrd faced together came in 1990 when a lesbian couple submitted their commitment announcement to what was then the paper’s “Wedding Book” section.

Byrd, Strick and other executives met to talk about the publication request.

“It didn’t take very long at all before we knew we were going to publish it,” Strick said. “The only question is how we’re going to do it.”

Strick was a managing editor working under Byrd at the time. She said it was Strick who suggested changing the name to “Celebrations,” giving readers a chance to decide for themselves what is news and what they want people to know.

“It was celebrating people’s milestones,” Byrd said.

There was tragedy in the newsroom in 1998 when city editor Jim Muhlstein died suddenly. A decision was made to hold a memorial service in the newsroom to let colleagues grieve.

His widow, Herald columnist Julie Muhlstein, will be forever grateful.

“Stan allowed it to happen,” Muhlstein said.

For a couple of hours, the phones stopped ringing and the busy newsroom humdrum ceased.

“For me and my kids, we’ll never forget that,” Muhlstein said.

Strick soon will have time to quench his thirst for knowledge. He intends to read, pursue photography and travel with his wife, Janet. He also said he will take a close look at taking some college courses.

He’s most proud of the staff he’s gathered around him.

“This is the best group of editors I have ever worked with,” he said. “This is the best group of reporters, copy editors and photographers I have ever worked with. I feel very proud and confident handing that off to someone else.”

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.