Raum, former AP economics reporter, dies at 74

Tom Raum

Tom Raum, a former economics reporter for the Associated Press, died Friday at the age of 74 after a brain injury.

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the AP writes, “He also spent time on the economics beat, including covering the Great Recession, which began in December 2007 when George W. Bush was president and officially ended in June 2009 during President Barack Obama’s first term.

“In the newsroom, he was known for helping junior colleagues wrestling with issues like the federal deficit.

“‘He was so versatile,’ said Terence Hunt, former deputy bureau chief in Washington. ‘He could do everything, effortlessly, and he was a nice, graceful writer.’

“Raum also was an avid sailor, said Jim Drinkard, a former AP Washington editor and reporter. ‘He was a good skipper, patient with people who didn’t know how to sail.'”

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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.