Eduardo Kaplan, a managing editor at Dow Jones Newswires, has written a moving tribute to colleague Jim Murphy, who wrote the “Mark to Market” column and died Monday at the age of 66.
Kaplan wrote, “Throughout the years, Jim’s ‘Mark To Market’ column lucidly dissected every major subject in the news as well as many overlooked developments that in his view deserved attention.
“At a time of rapidly changing views about journalism, Jim’s commitment to the grind of a twice-daily column was exemplary.
“In another recent piece, he described one of the pitfalls of the profession: ‘once you set down an opinion or belief, it is almost impossible to continue writing about the same subject without intensifying the emotion one brought to the issue the first time it was written about.’
“Perhaps a better-hidden element of Jim’s last years at the helm of the column was that he managed to keep it going despite dealing with an illness that left him almost blind.
“With the help of his wife, Ruthie, of over 37 years, a constant presence in the columns and a woman Jim called his ‘ambassador to the world,’ Jim continued to pen ‘Mark To Market’ without fail. Late Sunday evening, only hours before he died, Jim sent an email to his editor, Robert Flint, saying he would be taking a sick day Monday but planned to be back Tuesday.”
Read more here.
