Newsday biz columnist leaving paper

Richard Galant, an associate editor at Newsday and the “Money & Power” columnist in its business section, is leaving the paper at the end of the month, according to an e-mail distributed internally on Wednesday.

The e-mail stated, “He arrived at Newsday as a summer intern in 1970. After graduating with degrees from Brandeis and Oxford universities, he joined the Long Island staff as a reporter in 1974. He went on to do top-notch work as a local writer and later as an Albany correspondent and would eventually hold nearly every kind of reporting and editing job in the newsroom.

“In his first evaluation, Sylvan Fox wrote that Rich ‘doesn’t try to impress people much, but turns in exceptionally consistent work. I consider him one of our best young acquisitions.’

“It was our good fortune that these words were as true in March 2008 as they were in December 1974.  And they proved to be prophetic regarding his deep and lasting impact as a top editor, first on the local desk and then in Business, in New York and for the whole newsroom on Long Island.

“Here on the Island, he was a key editor in the direction of the Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Baby Jane Doe case, for which Newsday was honored with the general local reporting award in 1984. As AME for Business, he led the department through a period of great growth and ambition as economic and financial news moved to the fore at Newsday and across the media landscape.

“In New York, as assistant managing editor and later managing editor, he fostered an environment that encouraged superlative work across the city beats and helped lead the staff that was honored in 1992 with a Pulitzer for breaking-news coverage of the Union Square subway crash.

“As managing editor, Rich was instrumental in helping to reshape Newsday for the Internet age and in directing award-winning reporting across the paper, including the Rwanda series recognized with the Pulitzer Prize for foreign reporting.

“In recent years, Rich has directed Business, Investigations/Enterprise and Nation/World/State coverage, all of which benefited greatly from his sharp news sense and his dignified approach to stories, the organization he so ably helped construct and the people he valued so highly.”