MediaWire memo
Thompson, who “was instrumental in two Pulitzer Prizes for public service,” will be news editor for Reuters in Washington.
The memo:
It is with tremendous sadness that we announce that Deputy National Editor Marilyn W. Thompson is leaving us to join the Reuters Washington bureau as news editor.
Marilyn has been a pivotal force in our newsroom, one of the most admired editors in the building. Over the past several years, she has helped guide the National staff with energy, wit and tenacity. She has been at the center of our best and most ambitious news coverage, from the carnage at Fort Hood to the oil spill in the Gulf. Her well-known investigative skills have been on recent display in directing Carol Leonnig’s and Joe Stephens’ strong work on Solyndra and related developments.
We have been fortunate to have Marilyn in our newsroom twice. Before returning in 2008, after detours reporting at the New York Times, editing at the Los Angeles Times and running the Lexington Herald-Leader, she spent 14 years with us as a reporter and top editor. She covered Prince George’s County, ran Metro projects, shepherded National’s domestic coverage and presided as assistant managing editor for Investigative. She was instrumental in two Pulitzer Prizes for public service.
In her spare time, she managed to write or co-author four books, including “Strom: The Complicated Political and Personal Life of Strom Thurmond” and “The Killer Strain,” a history of the 2001 anthrax attacks.
We will miss her passion and her deep commitment to serious, aggressive reporting. We wish her the best and will keep rooting for her.
Marcus Liz Kevin
