— by Lin McNulty —

It was with extreme sadness that our Orcas Issues editorial staff learned Sunday of the passing of Orcas icon Ted Grossman,

Ted Grossman

Ted Grossman

Ted, along with his wife, Kay, were owners of The Islands’ Sounder before selling to Sound Publishing in the mid-1990s.

It was Ted who gave me my “start” in journalism. I went to work there in 1993 when the newspaper was still being published using “paste-up,” with no computers involved. Ted was a master at calculating column inches and cutting stories to fit in the space available. Our staff spent many a late night putting the paper together.

After his retirement, when Margie Doyle became editor at The Sounder, Ted was a valued mentor.

Orcas Issues owes a debt of extreme gratitude and maintains the highest respect for Ted Grossman, one of the last true small-town journalists. We strive to carry on his dedication and his love of news reporting.

Just yesterday, I came across an African proverb that seems totally appropriate to Ted’s passing: “When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.” He was, indeed, a valuable, well-stocked library.

Our hearts go out to Kay and their children Alex and Marcy. He will be greatly missed by all of the Orcas community.

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