Charles B. Seib, the former ombudsman of The Washington Post - October 23, 2003

A former managing editor of The Evening Star in Washington and ombudsman at The Washington Post, died on Thursday at a medical center here. He was 84.


Seib graduated with a journalism degree from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and took a job with the Evening Chronicle in Allentown. After working at The Associated Press, the Philadelphia Record, the International News Service and the Gannett News Service, Seib joined The (Washington) Evening Star in 1954 as a reporter on the national desk. He was later promoted to be the paper's Sunday editor and managing editor.

In the 1970s, Seib was tapped to succeed Robert C. Maynard as the Washington Post's fourth ombudsman. His job was to answer readers' complaints and monitor the newspaper for fairness. He was the first Post ombudsman to work under a long-term contract.

The author of "The Woods: One Man's Escape to Nature," Seib spent the last years of his life teaching journalism part-time at the University of Maryland, Harvard University, Northeastern University and Syracuse University. His historical papers are housed at the University of Maryland library.

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Attribution: Jade Walker, NY Times