With great sadness, we say goodbye to Joe Kirby who was the OPED editor at the Marietta Daily Journal and my dear friend and writing mentor. In 2003, Joe was the first newspaper editor to publish a guest column submission from me and proudly ran a balanced OPED page. Maybe the most patient man I ever dealt with, Joe passed last night after losing a battle with lung cancer. He leaves behind countless friends and admirers and a beautiful family. Joe was just 60. He will be greatly missed.

Adios, Joe Kirby. And thank you.

Below is a short profile from GPTV:

Joe Kirby
Marietta Daily Journal

Joe Kirby has been Editorial Page Editor of the Marietta Daily Journal since 1992 and has won the prestigious Freedom of Information Award and Public Service Award from the Associated Press (Georgia) and the Georgia Press Association numerous times, as well as winning awards for Best Columnist, Best Editorial, Best Editorial Pages and Best Feature from those groups. He is the Southeastern Region 2008 winner of the First Place “Green Eyeshade” Award for Editorial Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. Kirby worked in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a city hall/general assignment reporter for the MDJ. Prior to that, Kirby was a reporter/anchorman for radio stations in northeast Georgia. He has a B.A. from James Madison University in History and Communication Arts. He serves on the boards of the Marietta Museum of History, the Cobb Library Foundation, the Kennesaw Mountain Historical Association, and the Marietta Kiwanis Club. He and his wife and two children live in west Cobb. He is the author of “The Bell Bomber Plant” and co-author with Damien A. Guarnieri of “Then & Now: Marietta” and “Then & Now: Marietta Revisited.”