Barbara Haddad Ryan: Quarles’ big shoes
It will be a major challenge to find a worthy successor to Orage Quarles as The N&O’s president and publisher.
Soon after moving to North Carolina, I heard him speak to a class at N.C. State’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. This old journalist has ample reason to be skeptical about the survival of all but the largest U.S. newspapers. But I came away from his wide-ranging, candid talk convinced that if every U.S. daily had a publisher as smart, innovative and realistic as Quarles, they just might – in Faulkner’s words – not only endure but prevail. At least among residents who are serious about staying informed!
He’s leaving an impressive legacy for the next person to take on the enormous challenge he met so well.
Barbara Haddad Ryan
Cary
This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Barbara Haddad Ryan: Quarles’ big shoes."