Former Columbus Dispatch biz editor dies at 87

Former Columbus Dispatch business editor Diana Britt Franklin died Monday after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. She was 87.

Luke Feck and Chris Amatos write, “Franklin, born Peter D. Franklin in Bournemouth, England, in May 1932, transitioned in March 2003, explaining that, ‘For many years I felt as though I was born into the wrong body. Now, my mind and body are at peace with one another. That is the only way I can explain it.’

“After her transition, she became active in the LGBTQ community, helping others transition. She also was active with the Mid-Ohio Food Bank, where she helped coordinate the annual golf fundraiser for many years. She continued to write and published two true-crime books.

“Peter Franklin joined The Dispatch in 1981 and invigorated the Business department by bringing in new staff and infusing them with a new sense of direction. He won national prizes for his work. He retired from the paper in 1993 but continued a cookbook review column in collaboration with his wife, Eleanor.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.