Reynolds professor Morrow, former editor of TheStreet.com, terminally ill

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

David Morrow, the editor in chief of TheStreet.com for eight years before becoming the Reynolds Endowed Chair in business journalism at the University of Nevada-Reno this past school year, is terminally ill with cancer.

Morrow is home with his family in South Carolina, according to a message sent to TheStreet.com staff Wednesday by editor Glenn Hall.

“I am personally at a loss for words to describe how sad it is to report this kind of news about the man whose editorial vision helped shape the success of our company for so many years,” said Hall in his note.

At TheStreet.com, Morrow supervised a staff of 65 reporters and editors. The site won numerous honors under his supervision, including “best enterprise reporting” and “best commentary” from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in 2008.  Morrow was inducted last year into the Digital Hall of Fame.

Previously, Morrow served as articles editor at Smart Money magazine since early 2000, where he assisted in directing the magazine’s consumer and investment coverage. Prior to that he worked at The New York Times from 1996 through 2000, covering personal finance, aviation and the pharmaceuticals industries. Earlier he was feature writer at SmartMoney magazine after a stint in 1993 as Japan bureau chief at The Detroit Free Press, where he covered foreign business news for Knight Ridder News Service. Before that he worked as a reporter for Fortune. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina.

Morrow, who is also a SABEW board member, is too weak to take any calls, but he is reading e-mails and would certainly appreciate hearing from his friends and colleagues.

If you know Morrow and would like to drop him a line, e-mail me and I will send you his e-mail address. Or leave your stories about Morrow here. Morrow is one of the good people in business journalism.

UPDATE: Talking Biz News has been told that Morrow is beginning chemotherapy treatment that has been successful in the past in treating his form of cancer.