Elizabeth S. Ellis, publisher of the Journal Inquirer, has died at age 92. Her career at the Journal started in 1967 and became the paper’s publisher in 1973.
From former Managing Editor and columnist Chris Powell:
“Whence comes another? Not bloody likely.”
From the Journal Inquirer:
Under Ellis the JI acquired a reputation as a champion of freedom of information, bringing many complaints against state and local government agencies to the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, winning nearly all of them. Former JI News Editor Robert H. Boone noted that the arrest of a JI reporter for refusing to leave an illegally closed meeting of the Enfield Town Council in 1974 was partly credited for enactment of Connecticut’s comprehensive Freedom of Information Act the following year. The charges against the reporter were dismissed in court.
While other JI alumni have been described as the heart (former Living section editor Richard Tambling), backbone (former Managing Editor Chris Powell, now a columnist), or face (former Sports Editor Randy Smith) of the newspaper, Ellis was the soul that held the institution together.
