Stroube J. Smith, 77, retired journalist, dies

Stroube J. Smith, a D.C. native whose long journalism career included service as an editor at U.S. News & World Report and a stint at The Washington Times, died on Oct. 30 in Lewisburg, Pa. He was 77.

Mr. Smith was born Aug. 21, 1934. He attended Episcopal High School in Alexandria and earned an English degree in 1956 from the University of Alabama.

He began his career in 1953 at Alabama's Tuscaloosa News, then moved three years later to the Birmingham News, the state's largest daily paper. Mr. Smith traveled overseas in 1959 to work in Germany for Stars and Stripes, then to Paris to work for the New York Times.

He returned stateside in 1964 to work for the now-defunct Washington Star, then went on to work for 20 years at U.S. News, for which he was a senior editor and columnist on regulatory and federal court issues.

Mr. Smith worked on the copy desk of The Washington Times from the early 1980s through 2005. He retired from full-time journalism in 1992, marking a nearly 40-year career in the industry.

John Anthony Neary Jr., ex-LIFE Magazine reporter who later took up metalsmithing, dies at 74

TESUQUE, N.M. — A family member says John Anthony Neary Jr., a journalist who worked as a LIFE magazine reporter and editor and later took up metalsmithing, has died.

Ben Neary, an Associated Press reporter in Wyoming, said his father died Friday at the family home in Tesuque of complications from cancer. He was 74.

A native of suburban Baltimore, John Anthony Neary Jr., began his career at the Washington Star and joined LIFE magazine in 1961. He was known for writing the 1969 LIFE cover story, "The Magical McCartney Mystery," about the hoax that Beatle Paul McCartney had died.

Neary and his wife, Joan, moved to Tesuque in 1973.

His remains are scheduled to be donated to the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

Steve Daley, Chicago Tribune journalist at 62, October 2, 2011

Like the best reporters, Steve Daley could talk to anyone about anything, but unlike a lot of daily scribes, he could also write about anything.

In his 20-plus years as a journalist — including 15 at the Chicago Tribune — he covered sports, media and politics, even the occasional music review.

“Even when he started out in sports, he was a guy who always had a huge interest in everything,” said Mr. Daley’s friend, Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich. “He was just somebody whose mind was broad enough to understand that everything is everything else. The distinction between sports and politics really isn’t that big.”