'Baltimore Sun' Business Editor Killed in Crash

By: E&P Staff Tim Wheatley, the business editor of The Baltimore Sun, was killed Monday morning in a car accident in which his 9-year-old daughter was seriously injured, police said.

Wheatley, 48, was making a left turn about two miles from his home in rural northern Baltimore County when a UPS truck collided with the driver's side of his car, county police spokesman Bill Toohey said. Wheatley died at the scene, and his daughter, Sarah Wheatley, who was in the front passenger seat, was taken to a hospital.

A traffic light controls the intersection and it appeared to be working, Toohey said. Police were investigating to determine whether either driver ran a red light and whether charges should be filed against the truck driver, Kevin P. Callahan, 28, of Owings Mills.

Wheatley started at The Sun in 2006 as assistant managing editor for sports, then moved to the business department earlier this year during a newsroom reorganization. His title was head of money and spending.

"Tim was a terrific journalist and an accomplished editor, but more important, he was a wonderful colleague," Sun editor J. Montgomery "Monty" Cook said in a statement. "We will miss him greatly."

Before his stint at the Sun, Wheatley was assistant managing editor for sports at The Indianapolis Star for six years. He also held editorial positions at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Florida Times-Union and the Spartanburg Herald-Journal during his 26-year career.

He was a longtime member of the Associated Press Sports Editors and served for a year as second vice president of that group's board.

"He had a wonderful sense of humor and a hell of a work ethic," APSE president Garry Howard said. "All of us at APSE are saddened by this horrific news."

Tim Franklin, former editor of The Sun and The Star and now director of Indiana University's National Sports Journalism Center, said he admired Wheatley for his devotion to his family, which includes two sons.

"He was a great guy," Franklin said. "He was so close to his kids and somehow managed to get to all of his kids' activities even among the chaos of the newsroom."