Editor Dreyer to retire after 27 years

Steve Dreyer, editor of the San Diego Union Tribune since 1993, has announced that he will retire from his post on Friday, April 3, reports the publication.

“I will turn 70 in May and this is my 50^th year in print journalism,” the editor of the Poway News Chieftain and Rancho Bernardo/4S Ranch News Journal said. “It’s time I put a ‘30’ at the end of my career.”

As per the Union-Tribune, “For those unfamiliar with the reference to “30,” reporters typed it at the bottom of their stories written prior to the computer age.”

Dreyer had his first reporting job at the Marysville Appeal Democrat in late-1970. Starting his career, he covered city councils, schools, the crime beat and the county supervisors in rural Sutter County. He was also part of the coverage of two national news stories.

After spending 10 years in the region, he moved to a reporting job with the Oceanside Blade-Tribune. During the following nine years, Dreyer became assistant managing editor of the daily newspaper before leaving to spend three years editing several community newspapers.

“I switched from daily to weekly papers because I loved doing community news,” he recalled. “Everything from fires and police stories to Little League games and obituaries.”

During his career Dreyer earned numerous awards from regional and statewide news organizations for his news stories and editorials. The San Diego Press Club honored him with an award for “outstanding newsroom management.”

Dreyer has been married for 47 years. He and his wife, Cheryl, have two grown children and four grandchildren. His retirement plans include freelance writing, travelling around the world, working in his rose garden and continuing his long relationship with Kiwanis.

“We will greatly miss Steve’s deep knowledge of the Poway and Rancho Bernardo communities and his steady hand, level head and journalistic expertise at the helm of the News Chieftain and News Journal,” said Union-Tribune Community Press president Phyllis Pfeiffer. “A succession plan is under-way and we will be announcing a new editor soon.”