Categories: OLD Media Moves

Taylor, former WSJ executive editor, dies at 87

Frederick Taylor, a former Wall Street Journal executive editor who spent more than 30 years at the paper and was known for fiercely defending journalism and his staffers, died Monday at age 87.

Nathan Becker and Neil Haggerty of The Journal write, “Mr. Taylor was the Journal’s managing editor from 1970 to 1977, then served as executive editor until he retired in 1986. He steered the paper through the Watergate scandal, the resignation of President Richard Nixon and the end of the gold standard in the U.S.

“He joined the Journal in 1955 and held positions ranging from Detroit bureau chief to covering the Pentagon to writing the paper’s front-page ‘Labor Letter’ column. Later in his career, he oversaw content and production of ‘The Wall Street Journal Report,’ a nationally syndicated TV show.

“When he was managing editor, the Journal’s pages were dense to the margins with words and no photos—just the way Mr. Taylor liked it.

“‘I’ve always thought that one word was worth a thousand pictures,’ Mr. Taylor notably said, according to Journal archives.”

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.