Reneta Smith Byrne

Reneta Smith Byrne, 90, died at home Jan. 6, 2006 of natural causes.

She was an award-winning journalist and longtime San Antonio Light women’s editor, a position she started in in 1979. She came to the Light in July 1964 as fashion editor, reporting from New York, Paris and London, and worked there 23 years.

Byrne also worked at the San Antonio Express. She won the Woman of Achievement award from Texas Press Women in 1976.

Richard J.V. Johnson

Richard James Vaughn Johnson, 75, died Jan. 14, 2006, at home after a lengthy illness.

Johnson, publisher emeritus of the Houston Chronicle, had a career that spanned more than four decades.

Johnson orchestrated the Chronicle’s 20-year transformation from an afternoon to a morning paper starting in 1974. In 1995, he engineered the sale of the Chronicle to The Hearst Corp.

He was a copywriter in the Chronicle’s promotion department and held seven jobs before being named president in 1973 and publisher in 1987.

Through the years Johnson served as chairman of the American Newspaper Publishers Association (now the Newspaper Association of America) and he helped introduce newspapers as a tool in American classrooms.

R.B. Palmer

R.B. Palmer, 88, died Jan. 14, 2006, at Titus Regional Medical Center.

He was publisher emeritus of the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune and chairman of the board of Palmer Media Inc., NorTex Press Inc. and Red River Media Inc.

The family moved to Mount Pleasant on Jan. 13, 1941, and acquired the weekly Titus County Tribune. Palmer purchased the Mount Pleasant Daily Times in 1972 and helped form NorTex Press. He also acquired the Clarksville Times and Little River (Ark.) News.

His son Robert L. Palmer is the current Tribune publisher and some of his grandchildren are involved in the newspaper business.

Mike Quinn

John Michael “Mike” Quinn Jr., 76, died Jan. 22, 2006, of a neurodegenerative disorder at an assisted-living home in Katy.  

His journalism career spanned nearly 50 years and he taught countless journalists at Texas newspapers as a 37-year media law and ethics professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He was a reporter and later managing editor of UT’s The Daily Texan.

In 1955, Quinn joined The Dallas Morning News but left in late 1956 and returned in 1959 and moved to the Washington bureau. In 1966, Quinn took a teaching post at UT. He earned a law degree while he was a journalism faculty member.

In 1984, he was named a George Christian Centennial Professor. He also served as the communication school’s associate dean from 1979-87 and assistant dean from 1987 until his retirement on Dec. 31, 2003.

In 1993, the Austin Headliners Club Foundation honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

John S. Robinson

John S. Robinson, 60, died Jan. 5, 2006, at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center in Austin from complications of prostate cancer.

He was on the faculty of Ambassador College in Big Sandy for many years and taught journalism, public relations and graphic arts at the University of Texas at Tyler.

For 35 years, he was involved in publishing and printing and during the 1970s edited an internationally distributed biweekly newspaper. Later, he and a partner purchased and operated The Big Sandy & Hawkins Journal for five years.

Wallace R. Simmons

Wallace R. Simmons, 69, died at home on Dec. 25, 2005, after a battle with cancer.

He retired last year from the Atlanta Citizens-Journal where he spent the last four years as sports editor.

He worked 47 years in journalism and was city editor and later managing editor of the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen from 1987-93.

He started his career in 1958 at the Texarkana Gazette and had worked at newspapers all over Texas including dailies in Abilene, Odessa, Pampa and Borger, and at weeklies in New Boston and Winnsboro.

Edward A. Vascocu

Edward A. “Lucky” Vascocu, 83, died Dec. 30, 2005, in Flint with his family.

He was the night floor foreman for the Tyler Morning Telegraph for 20 years.

He was the publisher and owner owner of the Troup Banner for 15 years.