At the eye of any hurricane is calm, and at the center of the Richmond Times-Dispatch newsroom for the past dozen years we've called that calm Andy Taylor.
News Editor Andrew C. Taylor III today retires after three decades in the newspaper business, the last 12-plus years as the editor in charge of The Times-Dispatch's local coverage.
Times-Dispatch President and Publisher Thomas A. Silvestri called his longtime colleague a team player who has constantly worked to put out the best paper possible.
"He is a gentleman editor, not afraid of doing the hard things, but he's going to be professional and calm about it," Silvestri said.
Executive Editor Glenn Proctor called Taylor "one of the best -- a good man, a good journalist, an understanding manager. When you think of Andy, think of the Boy Scout Law.
"This industry, The Times-Dispatch, Media General and most importantly, our newsroom, owe Andy a lot. I am very proud to have been a journalist with him during the past three years."
Taylor's wife, Fran, shared this view of her husband: "He just pretty much wants to do the right thing, and follows that course."
Known for his dry humor and unusual golf swing, Taylor started out in journalism as a hard-driving reporter, helping put two corrupt judges in jail when he worked at The Times-Dispatch's sister paper in Tampa, Fla.
A Richmond native, he joined The Richmond News Leader as business editor in 1989 and became business editor of The Times-Dispatch in 1994, editing a section that was named among the best in the nation by the Society of Business Editors and Writers.
Named metro editor in 1996, Taylor led the reporters who covered some of the toughest stories in the newspaper's history, including the hammering Virginia got from Hurricane Isabel in 2003, the Harvey and Tucker/ Baskerville murders in January 2006 and last year's Virginia Tech massacre, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
During his tenure, The Times-Dispatch won the Virginia Press Association's 2006 Award for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service, the organization's highest honor, for its coverage of conditions inside the Richmond City Jail, the Iraq war's effect on Virginians and the flooding in Richmond's Battery Park neighborhood.
"We've just had so much great coverage to be proud of," Taylor said.
But Taylor, 61, said the best part was the people he met in his career and the colleagues with whom he worked.
They feel exactly the same -- about him.
Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or dress@timesdispatch.com
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