WSJ’s Seth Hamblin dies at 46

Wall Street Journal managing editor Gerard Baker sent out the following announcement to the staff on Monday:

I’m deeply sorry to have to tell you that Seth Hamblin, our much–loved and –admired colleague and friend, died suddenly on Sunday morning. Seth, a man of industrious energy and charming gentility, passed away after running a race.  He was just 46.

Seth was a pillar of the Journal’s graphics department for almost a decade. His visual creativity was married to a passionate enthusiasm and deep commitment to the journalistic enterprise.  Seth joined the Journal in 2007 as a News Editor for the graphics team and rose to become Graphics Chief in 2010 and Deputy Global Head of Visuals in 2014. Before joining the Journal, he worked at various media outlets in places such as Aruba, Cairo and Washington D.C.

Seth is survived by his wife Tanya Prescott, whom he met when he lived in Washington, working for the Washington Post and moonlighting as a DJ. They left the club scene for the greener pastures of South Orange, New Jersey, where both dove into their other shared passion – gardening. Seth regularly shared the bounty of his labors with the rest of the office, making sure his colleagues ate their vegetables and that their cats had a plentiful supply of catnip.

Seth’s tireless optimism, boundless energy (even when encumbered with velcro shoes) and wide grin were an uplifting feature of our newsroom life. For me personally, one of the highlights of my day was to watch and listen as Seth, with evident and slightly mischievous delight, ran through the most promising visual opportunities for our digital and print offerings at the 9.30 morning news meeting.

His death leaves a great hole in our newsroom and an empty space in the hearts of all who had the pleasure to work with him.

We will share details of Seth’s funeral arrangements and other matters as soon as we have them.

In the meantime, please join me in extending your thoughts and prayers to Tanya and to all his family and friends.