By: Morley Ballantine, the longtime editor and chairwoman of The Durango (Co.) Herald, died at her home Saturday from respiratory failure at age 84.
In 1952, Ballantine and her late husband, Arthur, bought the weekly Durango News and the daily Durango Herald-Democrat, then immediately merged them into The Durango Herald-News (which in 1960 became just The Durango Herald). In the following years, the family company grew to include other local newspapers, including the Cortez Journal and two local weeklies.
In addition to her publishing duties, Ballantine served as the first female chair of the Colorado Associated Press Association in 1968. She also received numerous awards for her work from groups such as the Colorado Press Association and the University of Colorado School of Journalism.
Ballantine attended Smith College, Stanford University and the University of Minnesota, but did not receive her bachelor?s degree until she was almost 50 years old, from Fort Lewis College.
"She is widely thought of in the news industry as the model of a local newspaper publisher," Lou Boccardi, the president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press from 1985 to 2003, said in a phone interview Friday with The Durango Herald.
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