While checking emails at the start of the day this morning, I read my SPJ daily update and saw the obituary of Rene J. Cappon. Newsvine.com has a wonderful obituary for him calling him the word master behind some of the best writers at AP. He died Sunday at the age of 83.
I'm really saddened by this. Not only is his book "The Word" still on my book shelf to the right of my computer, but he was a visiting lecturer during my days in J-school at Baylor University back in the late 1980s. He provided captivating instruction and gave you that real world experience that many university lecturers sorely lack, having only intellectual experience from books.
According to Newsvine.com:
The Viennese-born Cappon, known to colleagues as Jack, died Sunday in a nursing home in Port Washington, N.Y., said his wife, Susan. He died of what was believed to be natural causes.
Over a half-century at the AP, Cappon held a variety of jobs: editor and reporter in Baltimore and Kansas City, Mo.; editor of AP NewsFeatures; writing coach; and general news editor when that was the top editorial position for the news cooperative. He retired in 2002. At AP NewsFeatures, he presided over a group of writers that came to be known as the Poets' Corner, including Pulitzer Prize winners Saul Pett and Hal Boyle, and Jules Loh, Sid Moody, Hugh Mulligan and others.
The Viennese-born Cappon, known to colleagues as Jack, died Sunday in a nursing home in Port Washington, N.Y., said his wife, Susan. He died of what was believed to be natural causes.
Over a half-century at the AP, Cappon held a variety of jobs: editor and reporter in Baltimore and Kansas City, Mo.; editor of AP NewsFeatures; writing coach; and general news editor when that was the top editorial position for the news cooperative. He retired in 2002. At AP NewsFeatures, he presided over a group of writers that came to be known as the Poets' Corner, including Pulitzer Prize winners Saul Pett and Hal Boyle, and Jules Loh, Sid Moody, Hugh Mulligan and others.
