Williams, biz editor who led Inquirer’s Three Mile coverage, dies at 74

Larry Williams

Larry Williams, the Philadelphia Inquirer business editor who led its Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, died last week at the age of 74.

Bob Fernandez of The Inquirer writes, “But it was as business editor that Mr. Williams made his biggest mark, helping direct the breaking news coverage of the nuclear accident in central Pennsylvania. The coverage won the 1980 Pulitzer for spot news.

“‘Larry was one of the pivotal editors in fashioning a lackluster Inquirer into what became one of the nation’s top five newspapers. He turned what had been a small, undistinguished business news department into one of the nation’s best,’ said former Inquirer executive editor Eugene L. Roberts Jr. ‘But his influence on the paper went far beyond business news, into major investigative reporting and the design and layout of the paper. His drive and talent were exceptional.’

“Gilbert M. Gaul, who would win his second Pulitzer at The Inquirer, recalled on Facebook how Mr. Williams ‘boiled over with ideas, and most of them were damn good. He was a smart, tough editor, and extraordinarily talented at the top of a story. He worked too long and too hard, yet could be kindhearted and even soft.'”

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.