Portland Biz Journal says goodbye to ME Siemers, who has a big laugh

Erik Siemers

Suzanne Stevens, the editor of the Portland Business Journal, writes a goodbye column about managing editor Erik Siemers, who is becoming editor of sister paper the St. Louis Business Journal.

Stevens writes, “We will miss his talent. But even more, we’ll miss his presence in the newsroom.

“It’s never easy to say goodbye. And in this case, we’ve pretty much been avoiding doing just that all week. Notice I’ve waited to the end of this column to even bring it up.

“We are a tight-knit group. We spend a lot of time together, much of it under pressure. Deadlines loom, copy piles up, stories fall through — and yet we still find plenty to laugh about, we still want to go drink a beer together when the day is done.

“Our newsroom will be quieter (Erik has a big laugh). We’ll miss his expansive knowledge of craft beer, his ridiculous grasp of sports trivia and his boundless love for the Timbers.”

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.