Former Oregonian biz editor dies at 102

Mel Blais, the business editor for The Oregonian in Portland during the 1950s, died Friday at the age of 102.

A story on The Oregonian website states, “‘Mel’ Blais was born Feb. 13, 1911, on a farm near Eugene. He graduated from Eugene High School in 1928 and from the University of Oregon in 1932 with a bachelor’s in journalism. He worked on weekly newspapers in Oakland, Calif., and Vale, Ore., then on the daily in Grants Pass and as news editor of the Eugene Daily News.

“He was a member of The Oregonian’s news staff from 1937 to 1960, including 5 1/2 years as business editor. He took breaks from the newspaper to serve in World War II, including a stint in the South Pacific from 1943 to 1945. He was the public information officer in Oregon for the U.S. Veterans Administration from 1946 to 1949.

“He was preceded in death by his wife, Jean Marie MacDonald Blais, whom he married Feb. 21, 1941 in Chehalis, Wash. He is survived by seven of their eight children.”

Read more here.

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.