Tampa Bay journalism executive, former magazine editor dies at 78

No one could have predicted the last column Rick Edmonds ever wrote would be about Gary Hart and the journalists who exposed his infidelity to the world, which ultimately sank the Colorado senator's 1988 presidential campaign. 

But those who knew Edmonds best say his last column, a history-laden analysis of the ethical responsibilities journalists juggle, has become a source of comfort and final testament to their friend — a man who spent his life working in newsrooms and later writing about them. 

Richard Radcliffe Edmonds, a longtime media business analyst at St. Petersburg nonprofit journalism think tank The Poynter Institute, turned in his final column Oct. 3. Two days later, Oct. 5, he died from health complications following a car crash. Edmonds was 78. 

“Rick was an enormously talented reporter and writer with a keen acumen for business journalism, and I think that showed up throughout his career including the last piece he ever wrote,” says Paul Tash, former chairman and CEO of The Tampa Bay Times and Times Publishing Co., which are both Poynter subsidiaries. 

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“He masterfully writes on the consequences and controversies of journalism,” Tash says. “This and the strengths of a fine intellect, a good ear and a genuinely cheerful outlook on life marked Rick throughout his career. I’ve always known him to be a remarkably bright and insightful guy.”

Another testament to Edmonds: the disclaimer he pinned to the bottom of that final column, listing his many connections to those interviewed for the piece — some work colleagues, some old friends and one journalist he never met but admittedly admired after reading his work and finding it “meticulously reported and well written.”

“One of the lessons I take with me from Rick, something I always admired about him, is his ability and commitment to stay connected to people and maintain friendships with people, even through long periods — some of which are bumpy,” says Tash, who was Edmonds' successor as editor and publisher of Florida Trend, a business magazine published by Times Publishing.

Edmonds had a network of sources that spanned the globe and an institutional knowledge of the journalism industry, his coworkers at Poynter say was unparalleled. 

“His knowledge was just unmatched,” Jennifer Orsi,Vice President for Publishing and Local News Initiatives at the Poynter Institute, wrote in a tribute to Edmonds. “He knew just about everything there was to know about trends in the industry, and shared his knowledge and sources freely with his colleagues.”

A graduate of Harvard University, Edmonds was an intern and assistant to famed editor and columnist James “Scotty” Reston at The New York Times when he met his wife, Marianne, at a friend’s wedding in his hometown of Minneapolis. A few years later, when Edmonds was hired for his first full-time reporting job by the Winston-Salem Journal, Marianne made the move with him to North Carolina. The couple, who adopted daughters Leslie and Jennie, recently celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary. 

Edmonds went on to work for The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in national reporting in 1982. That same year he moved his family to Florida to take on the Florida Trend role. He was in that role through 1991, and along the way he developed his reputation as a leading industry expert. 

“Rick was a fine man and a friend and respected colleague,” says Andy Corty, general manager of the magazine when Edmonds worked at Florida Trend who later served as president and publisher from 2009 to 2018. 

During a hiatus from journalism, Edmonds worked as staff director to the Business/Higher Education Partnership and as co-director of the Governor’s Commission on Education under former Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles. 

But Edmonds could never stray far from his “deep love of writing, curiosity about the world, and devotion to the truth,” his family wrote in his obituary. Edmonds soon returned to journalism and spent 11 years at the St. Petersburg Times (now called the Tampa Bay Times), where he held various leadership and editorial roles, including two years as managing editor of the newspaper’s Tampa edition. 

Then, in 2000, Edmonds joined The Poynter Institute. From 2004 to 2014 he co-authored the newspaper chapter of the Pew Research Center’s State of the News Media report, and he has been frequently quoted in articles on the economics and business models of newspapers in such publications as The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and National Public Radio. 

Edmonds began thinking about retiring in 2015, says Ren LaForme, managing editor of Poynter.org. But in the years that followed, even amid issues with his health that caused him to take time off work, he could never totally walk away. 

LaForme says Edmonds' final column — the one on journalist's ethical responsibilities, which was published posthumously to the Poynter website Oct. 14 — reminded him of another column his friend had written. That one, a few months ago, was about how Craigslist’s creation in the 1990s stole lucrative classifieds revenue from local newspapers, contributing to the industry's rapid decline. The piece, says LaForme, was on brand for Edmonds. 

“It was a little subversive, a little heterodox. Exactly the kind of story that challenged the easy narratives we like to tell about the business of news,” LaForme said. “I wasn’t surprised. That was the kind of reporter, and man, Rick was. He resisted simple answers and always dug deeper. Editing him was a pleasure, every time.”