MIAMI _ Joe Oglesby, the highest-ranking African-American newsroom executive at The Miami Herald, has announced his retirement, effective in May, according to an email circulated to staff members on Thursday afternoon.

Oglesby’s departure follows an announcement by The Herald earlier this month that it is cutting 175 jobs. The company plans to find a replacement for Oglesby as editorial page editor, according to the email.

Like most newspapers in America, The Herald has suffered huge reductions in advertising and circulation as more readers turn to news content online.

Miami Herald Publisher David Landsberg said in Thursday’s email:

“Today we are announcing the retirement of Joe Oglesby, our Editorial Page Editor. A lifelong journalist, Joe has dedicated the best part of his career to serving The Miami Herald and the South Florida community, both in the news pages –  as a reporter and an editor – and as leader of our Editorial Board. 

Joe is a total professional,and has worked tirelessly to bring our community lively perspective and a very healthy exchange of ideas. Joe started his career with a stint at the  Tallahassee Democrat, and worked for the St. Pete Times before joining The Miami Herald in November 1972. 

His jobs at The Miami Herald have included covering criminal courts and local government, writing columns and editorials, editing on the city desk, Assistant Managing Editor and Editor of the Broward edition. Over the years, Joe also worked as suburban editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and later, as managing editor of The State, in Columbia, S.C.   

He returned to Miami for good in 1997, and became Associate Editor of the Editorial Board, before assuming his current post four years later. Along the way, Joe:

--Shared a Pulitzer Prize with the Editorial Board in 1983 for arguing for equal treatment of Haitian refugees.

--Studied public policy for a year at Harvard University, where he met his wife, Linda Blash.

--Was named Journalist of the Year (1984) by the National Association of Black Journalists.

It goes without saying that replacing Joe will not be an easy task.

We will move quickly to post the job and name a successor well before his departure at the end of May.  You can already see the visions of golf and fishing dancing in his head.

Please join me in wishing Joe the best. Thanks, David.”


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