By: (AP) Dean B. Wheeler, who wed old media with new media at America Online and helped turn its News Channel into one of the busiest news sites online, is dead.
Wheeler, 50, died Monday at Loudoun Hospital Center of cancer.
Wheeler, who began his career at United Press International in 1972, was hired by AOL in 1995 to define how to organize and present news in an aggressive, new way that would distinguish AOL News. He believed in the importance of hands-on editors to organize and present news in a way that helped readers to understand the story.
Colleagues described him as the news staff's conscience -- firm, fair, and refreshingly old-fashioned.
Born July 18, 1951, in Framingham, Mass., and raised in Oregon, he skipped his final year at the University of Oregon and took a job with UPI in Helena, Mont., and later was a writer in the wire service's Portland, Ore., bureau.
Wheeler went on to work for Reuters America Inc. in Seattle in 1987 and eventually settled into the company's new-media division in 1994 in Reston, Va., where he helped develop computerized news feeds and online news packages.
The following year he was tapped to manage AOL's fledgling News Channel, where he worked, via modem from the hospital, during the final weeks of his life.
"He created the best, most collegial, and cooperative news team I've ever worked on," said AOL News Services Director Gary Kebbel.
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