TEXARKANA -- Texarkana Gazette Editor Les Minor announced his pending retirement Monday, after almost 40 years on the newspaper's staff and 35 leading its newsroom.
Minor will step down Feb. 28, he told Gazette employees. Gazette General Manager James Bright will then take on the editor position in addition to his current duties, said Walter E. Hussman Jr., publisher of the Gazette and chairman of WEHCO Media.
Minor began work at the Gazette as a features writer in August 1982. Five years later, he was promoted to managing editor and took charge of overseeing the paper's journalists, guiding news coverage of Texarkana and the surrounding region. His professional accomplishments include a term as president of the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors Association.
Minor said he is looking forward to spending more time on his family, home and health. He lives in Texarkana, Texas, with his wife, Patsy, and has six children and three grandchildren, with a fourth on the way.
"At the end of the day, I love this job, and I will always love this job. This is going to be hard," he said. "But I don't want to be the guy that stays too long and that just hangs on. I want to be the guy who has something left to enjoy."
Hussman praised Minor as an exemplary journalist.
"Les is a good example of why our newspapers have been more successful than most, because we have dedicated, loyal, long-term people who really care about our readers first and our company second and have worked hard to produce as good a product as we possibly could," he said.
Bright said Minor has been pivotal in the success, growth and overall sustainability of the Gazette for the last four decades.
"He has been a pillar of journalism in Texarkana and synonymous with our publication. But more importantly, he has been a phenomenal leader and friend to our staff. His kindness is as much a part of his legacy as his tremendous body of work," Bright said, adding that it is humbling to be appointed Minor's successor.
"I will endeavor to continue the strong foundation of objective journalism he has instilled at the Texarkana Gazette during his career. Additionally, we will work diligently to grow our digital products and content to levels unseen anywhere else in Texarkana.
"But most importantly, it will be my utmost priority to maintain the dividing line between the business side of our publication and the news side. I will always put principle over profit," he said.
Minor predicted a bright future for the Gazette.
"We will move forward," he said. "Texarkana has always had a good newspaper. Texarkana always will have a good newspaper."
James Bright