The (Pottstown) Mercury, Oct. 5

Walter L. Herring, former Pottstown Mercury editor, dies at 59

Jack Croft
Special to The Mercury

Former Mercury Editor Walter L. Herring, whose 30-year newspaper career was marked by award-winning journalism and an unwavering commitment to society’s underdogs, died Oct. 3 following a long illness. He was 59.

"Newspapers," Herring was fond of saying, "are the art of the possible." And those who worked for him at The Mercury and other newspapers across the country agree that what Herring saw as "possible" usually far surpassed what his wealthier and larger-staffed competition could envision.

"He was a newspaperman’s newspaperman," said John Strickler, The Mercury’s photo supervisor who has been with the paper since 1975. "He didn’t take any prisoners. He told it like it was. And Walt never apologized for doing his job."

After establishing his reputation as a hard-driving newspaper editor with the Philadelphia Daily News and the late Philadelphia Journal in the 1970s and early 1980s, Herring went on to edit newspapers in New Jersey and Florida, worked as an editor for The National Enquirer for a year, and taught journalism for more than a year at the University of Washington.

He came to The Mercury in December 1991, and his seven years at the paper’s helm were highlighted by several major investigative projects -- including an award-winning series examining how prisoners received federal Pell Grants for college education -- and the newspaper’s transition from black-and-white to full color. In 1996 and 1997, The Mercury won recognition as the best daily newspaper in its circulation division with back-to-back Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s Sweepstakes Awards.

Herring was most proud that The Mercury took first and second in the 1997 Public Service category, saying at the time that it "shows that The Mercury is looking out for the welfare of the community, and helping residents in their battle against corruption."

Those were themes that ran throughout his career in newspapers.

Strickler said that Herring’s crusading style probably most resembled the late Shandy Hill, The Mercury’s co-founder in 1931 and first editor. "He was probably the most fiery editor I ever worked with at The Mercury," Strickler said.

Working for Herring wasn’t easy. His volcanic temper was legendary. He was known to berate reporters and editors in expletive-filled tirades when he felt that his standards weren’t being met or that less than maximum effort was being given.

"As a reporter, especially a young reporter, you often hated him because he drove you relentlessly to get all the way to the bottom of every story," recalled Mercury sportswriter Rosemarie Ross, who worked with Herring at four newspapers over four decades, from the old Philadelphia Journal to The Trenton Times to the North Jersey Herald & News, before joining The Mercury. "It meant long hours and long days, but he would never settle for anything less. He was fiercely determined to give the public the total truth of a story."

Gideon Gil, health and science editor for the Boston Globe who worked for Herring at The Trenton Times in the early 1980s, recalled: "He was manic, but he energized that newsroom and got a bunch of largely inexperienced kids to work our asses off for him and do some pretty darn good journalism."

Beneath the "tough guy" front was a compassionate and generous man who mentored young writers and demanded that his newspapers speak for those whose voices were ignored, former co-workers said.

Jeff Webb, editor of editorials for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, worked with Herring in Trenton and Passaic, N.J., and compared the experience to a general leading his troops into battle.

"Walt inspired that kind of loyalty, that kind of dedication," Webb said. "I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. The battles we fought ... Walt was fighting the good fight most of the time."

Ian T. Shearn, an investigative reporter for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., also served two tours of duty with Herring in Trenton and Passaic.

"When there was blood in the water, Walt was unflinching," he said. "When we were pushing hard on a very corrupt mayor in Passaic, N.J., fire inspectors suddenly were writing us up for code violations, newspapers were pulled from city classrooms and one of our reporters was assaulted. One day, an edition of the paper, wrapped around a dead fish, was delivered to the newsroom. Walt stepped up our investigation, and that mayor ended up doing federal time.

"I learned more from Walt about journalism in two years than I have in 15 years since," Shearn said.

Herring was born in Southwest Philadelphia, and graduated from West Catholic High School for Boys in 1965. John Furey, his close friend since their high school days, recalled: "As long as I’ve known him, ever since he was a kid, he wanted to write. His lifelong desire was to be a writer."

Herring served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1966 to May 1968, and attended Temple University, where he edited the student newspaper. His newspaper career began in April 1971 with The Detroit News, where he spent two years as assistant city editor. He returned to his native Philadelphia as an assistant city editor with the Philadelphia Daily News in 1973, and rose to features editor over the next four years.

He joined the upstart, sports-dominated tabloid, The Philadelphia Journal, as assistant managing editor when it launched in 1977, and was assistant to the editor-in-chief and managing editor when the paper folded four years later in 1981.

His experience working on the fast-paced, gritty big-city tabloids shaped his view of journalism and stayed with him throughout his career. Strickler recalled how when Herring was particularly proud of a headline he’d written at The Mercury, he’d smile, pat his chest, and say: "Be still my tabloid heart."

He was managing editor of The Trenton Times for two years in the early 1980s, taught journalism at the University of Washington in the mid-1980s, and took a job as an editor with the St. Petersburg Times in Florida for just over a year before moving on to the National Enquirer in 1987. Following his year with the Enquirer, Herring moved on to the North Jersey Herald & News in Passaic, N.J.

Under Herring’s guidance, the Herald & News won more writing awards than any other paper in the state, including major investigative projects on homelessness, the Garden State Parkway tolls, and the war on drugs. His seven years at The Mercury were characterized by the same high standards.

Following his stint at The Mercury, Herring was editor of the Gloucester Daily Times in New Jersey, briefly took a job as editor of a newspaper in the Virgin Islands, and authored a pulp fiction novel set in Philadelphia called "Picasso Was A Punk."

While visiting friends in the Philadelphia area in August 2004, Herring suffered a massive stroke. He has been hospitalized since, most recently at Fair Acres Geriatric Center in Lima, Pa. He died Oct. 3 at Riddle Memorial Hospital in Media, Pa. Funeral arrangements are pending.

When Herring’s novel was published in 1993, he returned to the Pottstown area to celebrate with former colleagues from The Mercury at a local watering hole.

"He was on center stage that night, holding court," Strickler recalled. "He gave out copies of his book, and signed something personal in each one. It was a great night. That’s the way I’m going to remember him."

Former colleagues on Oct. 4 recalled Herring as one of the last of a dying breed in newspapers.

"There should be room for people who are more interested in the truth than in being politically correct," Webb said. "There should be room for people who tilt at windmills, and get excited when they knock one down."

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