New York Times' biz reporter dies of cancer

I first met Connie Hays, who died earlier this week of cancer, back in 1996 or 1997 when she took over the beverage beat at the New York Times. Since I covered Coke for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, we ran into each other frequently at events, and I always read what she wrote because she was the competition.

I liked Connie. She was very serious about her reporting, and she never cut the Coke people any slack, which I appreciated. I thought there were some other reporters on the beat who were too soft on the company. Her book about the company a couple of years ago was the most critical piece of writing about the company that I can remember in the past 10 years.

Connie will be missed. I always looked for her byline.

You can read her obituary in this morning’s Times. Registration is required.