I just read the shocking news from Quin about the death
of Mary Lou Forbes. She's been at the Washington
Times since its birth, serving through the tenure
of a variety of editors, executive editors, editorial page
editors, and more. Before that she was at the
Washington Star, which lost its battle with the
Washington Post. The result threatened to leave
Washington as a one-newspaper town, but the Times
stepped into the breach.
Mary Lou was a wonderful human being, friendly and encouraging,
fun to travel with (we were on at least one international press
junket together), and committed to maintaining a page open to
competing arguments on the Right. It is almost impossible
to imagine the Washington Times commentary section
without her, though anyone who has regularly dealt with the page
also has had the pleasure of working with Ben Tyree and
Frank Perley over the years.
Her family, friends, and colleagues warrant our prayers and
thoughts. But we all will suffer a loss from her
passing. Rest in peace Mary Lou.
About the Author
Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and the Senior Fellow in International Religious Persecution at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (Crossway).
