Denver Post biz columnist says goodbye

Penny Parker, who was laid off last week as the Denver Post business columnist, says goodbye to her readers by explaining how she got into business journalism.

Parker writes, “I came to The Post originally in 1993 as a temporary features writer with no promise for a future at the paper. At the end of my stint, people and positions had shifted around to the degree that there was a “permanent” full-time job opening in the business department.

“Business editor Henry Dubroff, who would grow to be one of the best editors I ever had the privilege to work for, inherited me and neither one of us quite knew how to coexist.

“What would he do with me? What did I know about business news reporting? But Dubroff chose to build on my strengths. He knew I could report the news (I had a journalism degree, after all), but he knew I was less schooled in balance sheets, IPOs and the general drudgery that could be business news.

“So he asked me what I was good at. Shopping, I knew how to shop. ‘Retail reporter,’ he said. The guy who was covering that beat before me was grateful to give it up. Retail grew to include restaurant coverage — a passion I still have today — then Dubroff asked if I would also take on a weekly advertising and marketing column.”