Pennsylvania biz editor retires after 27 years at paper

Michael Bradwell

Michael Bradwell, the business editor of The Observer-Reporter in Washington, Pennsylvania, is retiring after 27 years at the paper.

Executive editor Liz Rogers writes, “‘It’s been a lot of fun,’ Bradwell said, reflecting on the highlights of a storied career at the O-R.

“Bradwell got his start in the newspaper business at the Bedford Gazette. After several years, he switched careers and took jobs in public relations, first at Old Bedford Village, then at Ketchum, Pittsburgh, followed by a stint at DDF&M in Monroeville, and finally at Federated Investors, Pittsburgh. He returned to newspapers in 1990, taking a general assignment reporter position in the O-R’s Greene County bureau. He later became a copy editor before being named business editor.

“‘When I started (as business editor) in 1995, we were still in the midst of the end of the steel and glass era. My first big story was about the search for a buyer for the former Cooper Industries transformer plant in Canonsburg. A lot of people were down on themselves and the area. They couldn’t see a lot of positive times.’

“A year later, Gustine, one of Pittsburgh’s largest developers, came to Washington to announce it was going to build the Strabane Square retail development in South Strabane Township.”

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.