John Walter, former AJC managing editor, dies
September 13, 2008 at 6:27 pm by Ken Edelstein in NewsFormer AJC Managing Editor John Walter died Thursday, just over six years after leaving Atlanta for Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.
The Vineyard Gazette, where Walter served as editor and publisher in 2003 and 2004, had a brief notice of his death Friday
John Walter of Edgartown [Mass.] died unexpectedly yesterday following complications from surgery at Mercy Hospital in Springfield. He was 61 and was co-publisher of Vineyard Stories with his wife Jan Pogue. A complete obituary will appear in a future edition of the Gazette; arrangements were incomplete at press time.
Walter had served as managing editor of the AJC for 12 years and had been expected to succeed top Editor Ron Martin when Martin retired. In 2001, however, Martin hired Julia Wallace as managing editor and, by naming Walter “executive editor,” moved him out of the line of succession.
When Wallace replaced Martin as editor, Walter resigned and moved to Martha’s Vineyard, a scenic vacation island where he became editor and publisher of the twice-weekly Gazette. After leaving the Gazette, Walter and Pogue founded Vineyard Stories, a vanity book publishing company.
Surprisingly, there’s been no notice of Walter’s death in the AJC.
September 14th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
With Walter’s death, the three major players in the AJC’s infamous coverage of Richard Jewell in the bombing at Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park in 1996 are now dead. Walter managed the coverage. Also deceased are reporter Kathy Scruggs and Richard Jewell.