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Chattanooga reflects on the passing of newspaperman Lee Anderson
Lee Stratton Anderson, who died early Thursday morning at the age of 90, was not only the editor of the Chattanooga Free Press, one of the forerunners of today’s Chattanooga Times Free Press, he also was the newspaper’s public face, its consistent conservative voice, its North Star.
The longtime Chattanoogan was the newspaper’s editor from 1958 until the Times Free Press and the Chattanooga Times were purchased by WEHCO Media and combined to form the Chattanooga Times Free Press in 1999. He continued to be the Free Press page’s editorial voice from 1999 until he retired in 2012. When he retired, he had been employed by the newspaper for 70 years.
Anderson was unashamedly Christian, conservative and patriotic, and those descriptions were the touchstones of his editorial voice.
His Christian faith influenced his writing, and his Christmas and Easter editorials – unusual for 21st-century pages – annually retold the biblical stories of the birth of Christ and his crucifixion and resurrection.