The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Mary Lou Forbes, RIP

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).