Last Updated: November 29, 1996
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Editor, Newhouse News Service
Birthday: Jan. 15, 1941
Hometown: San Antonio
Marital status: Married to C. Peter Magrath, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.
Children: Eight stepchildren and nine grandchildren.
Self-portrait: Driven, persistent, perfectionist, caring, smart ass, irreverent, funny. Did I forget to say I'm absent-minded?
Inspiration: Standing as a 5-year-old with my editor father and watching the presses run on a Saturday night. I was hooked.
Greatest feat: Personally, becoming physically active despite having chronic asthma. Professionally, being involved with winning three Pulitzer Prizes and a string of finalists.
Bad habits: Overcommitting myself. Worrying too much.
Pet peeve: Grammatical errors and typos.
Luxury defined: Hiking in Grand Teton National Park, then coming back to a hot shower, a cold glass of white wine and a great dinner.
Most dangerous story: Having a teen-age killer confess to me that he had blown his mother's head off with a double-barreled shotgun because she wanted him to wear a clean shirt to school.
Best interview: I was sent on short notice to interview then-U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy on farm price supports, something I knew nothing about. He saved me by educating me enough to ask decent questions.
My service's strength: Grown-up reporters doing intense reporting and strong writing on issues of importance to readers, and illustrating their stories with compelling photos and graphics.
Most admired editors: James K. Batten, Larry Jinks, Gene Roberts.
Most admired fiction writers: Carol Shields, Louise Erdrich, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Thurber.
Best stories:
- Supervising a project on two gay rural men who died of AIDS in Minnesota - "AIDS in the Heartland."
- Supervising a project that re-reported the 1860s uprising of the Dakota people in Minnesota in a historically accurate way - by including the Indians' point of view.
Favorite publications: Newhouse newspapers - what did you expect?
Favorite comic: Doonesbury.
Favorite columnists: Ellen Goodman, David Broder, William Safire, David Shribman
Best part of job:
- Working with a great staff doing good journalism.
- Working with a great bunch of Newhouse editors.
Worst part of job: I miss the sound of presses.
Vacation spot: Grand Teton National Park.
TV program: I don't watch TV except for the news.
Books at bedside: "The Liars Club" by Mary Karr and "Skipped Parts" by Tim Sandlin.
Last words: I'm outta here. ....
