Two former business editors leave Oregonian

Mark Hester and Bruce Hammond, two former business editors of The Oregonian in Portland, left the paper on Thursday as part of individual buyout offers.

Hammond, who was business editor from 2008 to 2011, had recently been investigative and enterprise editor. Hammond has also been The Oregonian’s senior editor for suburban news. He’s been at the paper since 1987 and previously served as its political editor and as a business section editor.

In an email to the staff, Hammond wrote:

It’s been such a privilege to work with you folks. You’re amazing, creative journalists — and fun, gracious people on top of that. All the best!

Hester, who was the business editor from April 1997 to June 2005 and then sports editor of the paper until 2012, when he joined the op-ed page.

In a farewell email, he wrote:

I think the best thing anyone can say at the end of a career is that they had fun, and that’s certainly been the case for me. Thirty-five years in journalism, and almost 20 at The Oregonian, have given me a chance to cover historic figures (starting with George Wallace’s last term as governor of Alabama and ending with John Kitzhaber’s aborted last term in Oregon), work with great people (none greater than those here) and focus almost exclusively on the topics that interest me most (business, sports and politics). There aren’t a lot of jobs that allow you to have fun and do important work at the same time.

I don’t know what I’ll do next, other than rest and play golf for the next three months or so, but whatever I decide on will have to be fun. I wish all of you luck. Do important work and have fun. Journalism needs to continue to be a place that you can do both.