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Charles Apple: The Visual Side of Journalism

 

‘In memoriam’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

April 5: Chicago papers pay tribute to the late, great Roger Ebert (4)

As you know, movie critic Roger Ebert — movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1966 — passed away Thursday. He was 70. Here’s how the Sun-Times played the story on page one today: Ebert, just the way many of us remember him. Very cool. Chicago-based news design consultant Ron Reason tells us, however: Forget the front pages today – [...]

Jan. 23: R.I.P. Paul Pohlman of the Poynter Institute

Below is a photo of a Poynter leadership training class in the fall of 2000. Yes, that’s me, third from right on the back row, with a) hair on my head, still, and b) attired in light blue. I wasn’t yet into Hawaiian shirts. Please allow me to draw your attention to the distinguished gentleman on the left of that [...]

Nov. 13, 2012: R.I.P. former Birmingham News photographer Jeff Roberts (1)

Photographer Jeff Roberts — best-known, perhaps, for this stunning page-one picture of a woman comforting her grandchildren after tornadoes in Concord, Ala., last year… …passed away Tuesday after a months-long fight with cancer. He was 51. His former colleague John Archibald writes about him: Roberts — Jeff — no longer worked at the News. He was part of the group [...]

Nov. 12, 2012: R.I.P. longtime Wisconsin-based sports copy editor Brent Engh (5)

Brent Engh of the Janesville Gazette passed away suddenly on Saturday, reportedly from a heart attack. He was 49. Brent spent several years on the sports copy desk of the Capital Times of Madison, Wis. Gazette editor Scott Angus tells us: He hadn’t been feeling well and called in sick for his shift Saturday night. We’re still waiting for obituary [...]

Oct. 15, 2012: R.I.P. Indy Star copy desk chief Roxanne Morgan (6)

Editor Jeff Taylor and managing editor Kevin Poortinga of the Indianapolis Star sent this message out this morning to the staff there: All, It’s with sadness that we say we’ve lost a longtime member of our newsroom family. Roxanne Morgan, our copy desk chief and journalist at The Star for 31 years, passed away last night while on vacation in [...]

Aug. 20, 2012: R.I.P. illustrator, art director, teacher Jeannie Grand (12)

Visual journalism suffered another loss this weekend. Jeannie Grand — former columnist, illustrator and art director for the Daily Breeze in Torrance, Calif. — has passed away after a long illness. From Jeannie’s Facebook page. — Randy Stano — former president of the Society for News Design and currently a professor at the University of Miami — tells us Jeannie [...]

July 15, 2012: Former Maine newspaper designer found dead

Adrianne Robert — a former page designer for the Lewiston, Maine, Sun Journal — was found dead in her home in Florida Saturday, newspaper reports say. Adrianne’s roommate found her around 3:30 a.m. yesterday, reports Dan Sullivan of the Tampa Bay Times. The nature of the young woman’s death remained unclear Saturday and sheriff’s officials released few details. Crime scene [...]

June 1, 2012: RIP Dick D’Agostino, Baltimore News American; Sun design director

Former Baltimore Sun design director Richard “Dick” D’Agostino passed away Monday at age 64, the paper reports today. A 1970 graduate of Loyola University, Dick spent seven years with the Baltimore News American and then eight with the Sun. He redesigned each of the papers during his time as their visuals leaders. The Sun‘s Frederick N. Rasmussen reports: After leaving [...]

April 29, 2012: R.I.P. Peggy Whisler, San Antonio Express-News (1)

Vianna Davila of the San Antonio Express-News reports today: Her name never appeared beside the stories she edited, but Peggy Whisler had an important hand in all of them. As a copy editor for the San Antonio Express-News, Whisler was the last defense against errors getting into the daily newspaper. She wrote headlines. She trimmed lengthy copy. She ensured all [...]

March 25, 2012: R.I.P. longtime Kinston (N.C.) Free Press photog Charles Buchanan

Kinston (N.C.) Free Press photographer Charles Buchanan — an employee of the paper for 35 years — passed away of a heart attack Thursday. He was 63. Charles grew up in Kinston, attended the University of North Carolina and then joined the Free Press in 1976. Included in the story by managing editor Bryan Hanks are quotes about Charles from [...]

March 20, 2012: R.I.P. Designer Ed Nest of the Baltimore Sun (7)

Oh, such sad news today out of Baltimore. Paula Nest — wife of Ed Nest, a sports designer for the Baltimore Sun — writes tonight: I don’t know if you have heard, my husband Ed Nest passed away. He was in a car accident early this morning. We will be positing info on his [Facebook] page, please help spread the [...]

March 8, 2012: RIP news sketch artist Franklin McMahon

Famed news sketch artist Franklin McMahon passed away Saturday at his home near Chicago. He was 90. Douglas Martin of the New York Times reports: With sketch pads in hand, Mr. McMahon covered momentous events in the civil rights struggle, spacecraft launchings, national political conventions and the Vatican, turning out line drawings for major magazines and newspapers. Many were later [...]

Feb. 29, 2012: R.I.P. Amid Capeci, design director of Entertainment Weekly

Amid Capeci, design director of Entertainment Weekly, has passed away after a long fight with cancer, friends report today. He was 51. A 1983 graduate of the University of Hartford, Conn., Amid spent four years as deputy art director of Esquire before taking over as art director of Rolling Stone in 2004. He was named assistant managing editor for design [...]

Dec. 2, 2011: News design legend Louis Silverstein passes away (2)

Former New York Times art director and assistant managing editor Louis Silverstein passed away yesterday. He was 92. You’d be amazed at the list of things we accept today as standard features of print newspapers that Silverstein invented over his decades at the Times. From today’s NYT obit: The Times, Mr. Silverstein understood, had to modernize. “The Gray Lady,” as [...]

Nov. 23, 2011: Charles Stough of the ‘Burned Out Newspapercreatures Guild’ passes away (14)

Longtime copy editor Charles Stough of Dayton, Ohio, has passed away, according to messages on his Facebook page. Charley last posted himself on Facebook Oct. 21, saying: I know this place with the most beautiful barmaids in the world. Chemo starts. Two days later, he entertained his friends by posting: Wouldn’t call it easy but it’s better’n pickle pizza. Earlier [...]

Oct. 5, 2011: The world is just a bit less brilliant tonight (2)

Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. Steve Jobs Apple Computer Go here [...]

Sept. 19, 2011: Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Anita Harkins passes away

Longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor Anita Harkins passed away Thursday night after a battle with breast cancer. She was only 57. Anita flanked by two friends in April 2010. From the “Friends of Anita Harkins” Facebook page. — A native of Davenport, Iowa, Anita graduated from the University of Missouri and worked at two papers — including the Orlando Sentinel — [...]