'Weston Democrat' Publisher/Editor Dies

By: Robert Earle, a retired publisher and editor of The Weston Democrat, has died.

The Charleston Gazette reports that Earle died Sunday at a personal care home in Cedar Grove after struggling with Parkinson's disease. He was 89.

The Clarksburg native was in the first graduating class of West Virginia University's P.I. Reed School of Journalism.

After serving in the Army during World War II, Earle started working at The Weston Democrat as a reporter. He and a partner bought the weekly newspaper in 1949. Earle was publisher and editor for 40-plus years before selling the paper in the early 1990s.

A Thursday memorial service is planned in Weston. Barlow-Bonsall Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.