Hail and farewell, Howard Sutton

Kudos to my old boss, Howard Sutton, who is about to retire from  The Providence Journal, where he has been publisher for 15 years. He remained a quietly forceful and congenial leader of one of America's oldest journalist organizations while dealing with the   industry's vast competitive challenges  from the Internet and the move from private- and family -run newspaper companies to publicly held ones demanding much higher profit margins than before.

His good humor, unflappability and focus on the essentials of news coverage made him close to the perfect publisher for these tough times.

-- Robert Whitcomb