HOUSTON — Jack Loftis, a former editor of the Houston Chronicle who shepherded the newspaper through 15 years of changing ownership and technology, has died. Loftis was 80.
The newspaper said Loftis died Monday night at a nursing home in suburban Bellaire.
A native of Hillsboro in Central Texas, Loftis wrote stories for his hometown newspaper while a student at nearby Baylor University, an early start to what became a half-century in the newspaper business. He joined the Chronicle in 1965 as a copy editor and rose through the ranks until being named editor in 1986. He retired in 2002.
A year after Loftis became editor, Hearst Corp. purchased the Chronicle from the nonprofit Houston Endowment. A newspaper long known for its close relationships with Houston's top officials and business elite now faced a changing mission as a part of a national media group.
Loftis distinguished himself for "an approach to fairness that really stood very well for the Chronicle and also for Houston during that particular time," said Tony Pederson, a former Chronicle executive editor who met Loftis in 1974.
"When he first became editor, it was a sea change for the Chronicle," said Wendy Benjaminson, a former Chronicle political editor and assistant managing editor who now works for The Associated Press. "Now it was going to be an independent newspaper."
During Loftis' tenure, the Chronicle invested heavily in national and international reporting, opening bureaus throughout Texas and Latin America to pursue stories of interest to readers in Houston.
Loftis sought to position the Chronicle as one of Texas' strongest voices during a particularly newsworthy time for the state. During his tenure, the Chronicle reported on two Bushes heading to the White House, the aftermath of the Challenger space shuttle explosion and the multibillion-dollar financial scandal at Houston-based Enron Corp.
