Lee Anderson discusses the issues of the day in his office.
It may take a few years to get the ink out of his veins.On April 18, 70 years to the day after he began his job as a cub reporter at the Chattanooga News-Free Press, Lee Stratton Anderson ends his career at the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
“When you think about the millions of thoughts and words Lee has put to paper over seven decades,”said Jason Taylor, president and general manager of the Times Free Press, “it is nothing short of amazing.It’s no doubt those words and his dedication have helped shape Chattanooga for generations to come.”
Anderson, 86, who is associate publisher of the newspaper and editor of the Free Press editorial page,was a reporter, editorial page editor and publisher of the Chattanooga Free Press (formerly Chattanooga News-Free Press), the afternoon daily paper that merged with the morning Chattanooga Times to form the Times Free Press in 1999.Walter E. Hussman Jr., chairman of the board of the newspaper, said the longtime newspaperman possesses loyalty, dedication and passion and referred to him as “an inspiration.”
“Without all those qualities,”Hussman said, “no one would want to work that long. All those perfectly describe Lee Anderson.”Anderson’s seven decades are thought to be one of the longest careers in the industry, but a spokeswoman for Editor & Publisher, a journal covering all aspects of the newspaper industry, said the magazine keeps no such records.
The journalism bug bit Anderson,a Kentucky native whose family moved to Chattanooga when he was4, early in life.