Oden, former WSJ editor in Washington, dies at 85

Henry Oden, a former editor for The Wall Street Journal in Washington, died April 15 at the age of 85.

An obituary states, “After graduating from Southern Methodist University, he began his 35-year journalism career at The Wall Street Journal, bringing precision, insight, and integrity to his editing, influencing the perspectives of countless readers. An enthusiast of barbecue and bicycling, he enjoyed riding throughout Virginia’s countryside, aways in search of the perfect beef brisket. After retiring in 1998, Henry and Georgia moved to Lake Anna, VA, where he continued to contribute to the Journal’s presidential election coverage for several cycles while immersing himself in his local community.”

A former Journal colleague, Rich Jaroslovsky, wrote, “Henry was a great journalist — one of those people the public never knew, but who did more to set the standard and enhance the quality of the Journal’s Washington report than many of us more publicly recognizable names. I worked with him for 18 years, and he was a wonderful editor and colleague. He eventually headed the news desk in Washington (the one that was recently dismantled), where he was faultless in his judgment and fierce in his defense of DC buro reporters.”