Former Reuters DC bureau chief dies at 86

Maurice Quaintance, the Reuters Washington bureau chief during the latter part of the 1970s when Jimmy Carter was in the White House, has died at the age of 86.

A story on The Baron states, “As bureau chief, Quaintance helped supervise coverage of the 1976 presidential election which resulted in Carter, a Georgia peanut farmer, going to Washington.

“He was recalled to Reuters head office in 1978 to be editorial staff manager.

“Quaintance had joined Reuters as a sub-editor in London in 1963 after working for provincial newspapers in Britain and in Africa following national service with the British Army. Promotion came rapidly: In two years he was appointed European editor.

“In 1968, when Reuters was stepping up the pace of editorial computerisation with the introduction of an automatic data exchange (ADX), Quaintance became father of the National Union of Journalists chapel representing London editorial staff in negotiations with the company.”

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