Margaret Sullivan
Named Managing Editor

By Dan Herbeck

Margaret M. Sullivan, who worked her way through the ranks after being hired as a summer intern in 1980, has been named managing editor of the Buffalo News. She is the first woman to hold the position at The News.

Following an exhaustive search process that began last March after the death of Foster L. Spencer, the appointment was announced on Jan. 7.

Sullivan said she is honored by the promotion and is planning to work closely with members of the Newspaper Guild and other unions in the building.

"I hope people will remember that I was a Guild member for nine years. I worked side-by-side with other Guild members and I still live in a Guild household today," she said. "I don't claim to have all the answers but I do plan on working with the Guild to find ways to make the News the best paper it can be."

Sullivan's husband, a Guild member, is Charles "Bud" Anzalone, editor of First Sunday Magazine.

News Unit Chairman, Tom Dolan, said he sees Sullivan's appointment as "a positive development" for the newspaper.

"I look forward to working with her. Everybody in the Guild respects Margaret," Dolan said. "We know she used to be one of us. We don't feel she'll be a pushover for the Guild, but we do think she'll work with us."

Sullivan became an assistant managing editor in charge of Lifestyles and Features in 1989. Executive Editor and Senior Vice President Murray B. Light said at the time that she had risen to senior editor status faster than any person in the history of the News.

Sullivan said she has always felt the News is staffed with highly-skilled professionals and is looking forward to working with them to improve the newspaper.

Sullivan said she is especially touched that she is replacing Spencer, whom she admired and considered a friend and mentor.