Will Lester, a longtime reporter and editor for The Associated Press who played a critical role in the news organization’s 2000 election-night decision not to call the presidential race, died Wednesday, Feb. 7. He was 71. more

His journalism career began at a New Mexico newspaper in 1947. In 1953 he joined Broadcasting magazine in Washington and began covering television and radio with a passion that, except for a detour to CBS, continued for the next 50-plus years in positions of increasing influence, culminating in the trade magazine’s editorship. After that, he led the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation, never losing sight of his goal of full First Amendment rights for the electronic media. He was 94. more

John Celestino, regional executive for CNHI newspapers in New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, died Friday, Jan. 26. He was 63. more

A familiar face on television as the host of “CBS Sunday Morning” from 1994 to 2016, he was also known for his “Osgood File” segments on CBS Radio, often delivered with humor and a rhyme. more

Former (Greenville, Ohio) Daily Advocate Editor Bob Robinson passed away Jan. 20 at his home at the age of 79. more

Erwin James wrote "A Life Inside" column while serving sentence for murder and later edited Inside Time newspaper. more

In the late 1940s, she was the only woman working on radio documentaries for CBS’s Edward R. Murrow. In Los Angeles, she was a pioneering newscaster and anchor. more

He was a well-known and well-loved radio journalist in Boston and beyond, famous for his deep and reassuring voice, his gift for public speaking and the way he lit up a room. more

He spent nearly 40 years writing for The Washington Post and was known for his incisive and barbed commentary. more

Ruth Ashton Taylor, the first female television newscaster in Los Angeles and one of the first in the country, died Thursday in Northern California, her family announced. She was 101. A Los Angeles-area native, Taylor trailblazed a 50-year career in journalism, during which she interviewed the likes of Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, worked with industry icons including Edward R. Murrow and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. more

Howard Weaver died on Dec. 14 at his home in Sacramento. He was 73. The cause was complications of pancreatic cancer, his wife, Barbara Hodgin, said. more

John Morrow Derby — a former reporter who started his own small town, community newspaper literally on his own kitchen table, and then turned his passion into a 60-year odyssey — has passed away. more

Randall Stone “Randy” Lieberman, 62, the long-time publisher of the Chester County Press (West Grove, Pennsylvania) and several regional magazines, passed away on Dec. 26 at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, surrounded by his wife and children. more

As executive editor from 1994 to 2001, he oversaw a period of growth, expanding national and international readerships, creating new sections and ushering in the digital age with a Times website. more

Rayner Pike, a retired reporter for The Associated Press who contributed his encyclopedic knowledge of news and crafty writing skills to some of New York City’s biggest stories for over four decades, has died. He was 90. more

Joe Goodman, one of the last of his kind, died peacefully Sunday morning, Dec. 31, in the house his grandfather built along the banks of Muddy Creek outside Clemmons. He would have been 87 in a couple of weeks. more

Ruth Seymour, an influential and brash station manager who transformed KCRW in Santa Monica, California, into a major creative force in Los Angeles and beyond, died Friday, Dec. 22, at the age of 88 after a long illness. more

He sought more diversity among its newsroom employees and co-wrote a full-scale, and modernized, edition of the paper’s internal style guide. more

Greg Bassett, founding editor of the Salisbury Independent and former executive editor of The Daily Times, died Sunday, Dec. 10. He was 63. more

Carol Nunnelley, founding executive director of the Alabama Initiative for Independent Journalism, died Dec. 3 after a long illness. more