WSJ’s Pensiero to retire after 31 years at paper

Wall Street Journal editor Gerard Baker sent out the following announcement on Thursday:

After a long, varied and highly distinguished career at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, our dear colleague and friend, Jim Pensiero, has decided to retire at the end of October.

It is difficult to contemplate this illustrious news organization without Jim. He typifies its values and exemplifies its character. He has been a pillar of support for our journalists and ardent champion of our work for more than three decades, under five editors.

Jim has held numerous formal roles as a news and coverage editor, served as managing editor of Smart Money, overseen our newsroom operations in several incarnations, installed and run our newsroom technology, engineered a revamp of the newspaper, co-headed FX Trader, rebuilt and strengthened our talent and recruiting department and even starred for a while as an executive on the Dow Jones corporate side.

On Sept. 11, 2001, when the Journal’s offices were destroyed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Jim organized and directed the backup newsroom in South Brunswick, N.J., (Princeton) that produced the Pulitzer Prize-winning edition of the newspaper on Sept. 12. The Journal would not have come out that day, or been able to continue to publish in the subsequent weeks, were it not for Jim’s valiant and unstinting efforts.

Beyond any of his formal titles, of course, Jim has served literally thousands of his colleagues as a mentor, advisor, consigliere and friend. We all well know, and have been grateful for, his honesty, bluntness, humor and compassion—a rare combination. There isn’t a metaphor from military history that has not been deployed by Jim to illuminate our understanding of everything from the location of a new desk to the appointment of a chief executive.

For me, as for my predecessors, Jim has been a constant source of wisdom and strength. I and others have asked him to take on countless jobs, some of them very difficult ones, and every time he has answered the call to serve the highest interests of the organization with loyalty and grace. While we will be sad to see him go, he, and we, can know that his influence and example remain permanently embedded in the culture of the Journal and Dow Jones.

We have some weeks left to thank and celebrate Jim, and I will soon share plans for our farewell event. I also will follow up soon with news of his successor.

In the meantime, I know all of you join me in thanking and lauding Jim for a remarkable 31 years.