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.