Former Nashville business editor dies

Bob Battle, the former business editor at the now-defunct Nashville Banner newspaper, died Friday at the age of 82.

A story on the Tennessean site states, “Greg Bailey of Katcher Vaughn & Bailey Public Relations said Battle was his first editor.

“‘He taught me how to cultivate sources and the internal politics and everything in between,’ Bailey said. ‘Bob had such an incredible career and so many stories. Who else, but Bob, could lay claim to interviewing Elvis and appearing in a Rock Hudson movie?’

“John Seigenthaler, chairman emeritus of The Tennessean, knew Battle as a reporter for the rival paper in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Bob was a good friend, despite the fact that we were constantly in competition as journalists, Seigenthaler said. ‘Friendship transcended the differences of that time and every time.'”

Read more here.