Goodbyes at One Herald Plaza

The Miami Herald continues to say goodbye to some its best and brightest.

These memos were sent out to Herald newsroom staffers last Friday.

In addition ro these departures, the Herald will be saying goodbye to long time staffer Margaria Fichtner at the end of June. I'll have more on Margaria later.

From: Hirsch, Rick - Miami
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 7:48 AM
To: MIA Newsroom
Subject: A sad but fond goodbye

Staff:

We say goodbye today to two longtime staffers who have made major contributions to our success.

Sara Frederick started her career out of the University of Miami as a copy editor and was an excellent one for several years, both on U Desk and Neighbors. But it was in Features where she made a memorable mark. She joined the department as the Operations Manager, the person who made things work, and quickly masters the ins and outs of the sections and the people. She brought Features editors and designers into the world of pagination, planned numerous thoughtful remakes of the TV Book, puzzles and Comics pages, did a long and successful stint as Weekend editor and at various times edited the People page 8A, Sunday Arts section and several daily Tropical Life sections. She planned and edited special sections including Season of the Arts and the outstanding series of Art Basel magazines. She was the principal planner and executor of coverage of Art Basel, the MTV Music Awards, Super Bowl festivities and many other South Florida entertainment events. Her work ethic, vast knowledge of pop culture, sense of humor and smarts endeared her to many across the newsroom.

Dave Fitzpatrick, known to everyone as "Fitz," has been an ever-present production force at our newspaper for nearly 40 years. He has worked every technology newspapers have known: first working the huge hot-type machines when he started as a high-schooler, then slicing and dicing waxed cold type to make up pages in the composing room, and finally putting it all together with colored shapes on the computer screen through pagination. Along the way, he has earned scores of friends and fans in the newsroom who turned to him for help, a laugh, handfuls of chips and cookies (which always seemed to be in huge bags on his desk) and inspiration from a leader in the ranks. Fitz was a tireless member of the design team, sometimes stringing together many days of work in a row to put out the sports section. He also expanded his production work in recent years to the news pages and has always been on hand late at night to get us out of jams as we fixed or updated the pages as the presses started to rumble. Back in the day, Fitz was an accomplished amateur jai-alai player. But that's a whole other story. Please wish Sara and Dave the best.

Rick Hirsch
Managing EditorThe Miami Herald

From: Marquez, Myriam - Miami
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 5:25 PM
To: MIA Newsroom

The editorial board is losing a wealth of knowledge about South Florida's political landscape with the retirement of Kathleen Krog.

Kathleen didn't want any big announcements upon her retirement, but her colleagues can't let her go without acknowleding her contribution over almost 30 years at the Herald to excellent journalism and thoughtful, thorough opinion-writing.

Her love and passion for Florida's environment -- from Biscayne Bay to the Everglades and beyond -- has helped guide our positions. Her no-nonsense defense of the most vulnerable and for equal treatment of women and minorities under the law -- and her straight talk about corrupted politicians from Palm Beach to the Florida Keys -- have kept elected officials on notice from Tallahassee to Washington.

Kathleen will be enjoying some of Florida's natural beauty once she leaves One Herald Plaza, but she also will be traveling and enjoying her grandchildren, who live out of state. Despite her protestations, I couldn't let her go without praising her contributions.

Her colleagues on the board wish her the best, Myriam

Myriam Marquez
Editorial Page Editor
The Miami Herald

Mike Kinerk's name may not be known to many Miami Herald readers, but one Herald staffer tells me he was one of the people who made things happen. "He was the go-to guy whenever you had a computer problem. I don't know what we're going to do without him."

From: Mendoza, Cesar - Miami
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 3:35 PM
To: MIA Newsroom; MIA El Nuevo Newsroom; MIA Systems
Subject: Mike Kinerk

After 34 years of service Mike Kinerk will retire from Miami Herald Media Co. effective June 1, 2011. His last day in the office will be Friday, May 20.

Mike began his journalistic career in high school and then graduated from Indiana University with a double degree in computer science and journalism. He worked for three years at the Herald-Times Co in Indiana, and installed their first electronic editing system and their classified ad billing system. He joined the Miami Herald in July 1977, holding positions as a senior editor in the newsroom, and more recently as Director of News Technology.

Mike’s contributions have been key in the many projects he has been involved with, from the launch of El Nuevo Herald, to countless redesigns and font/style updates, to leading the implementation of SII in 1981, leading the newsroom conversion to electronic pagination in 1997, and most recently his participation on the implementation of CCI.

For the immediate future he will remain in Miami Beach, and will continue to pursue his life-long interest in historic preservation, architecture and art. He was a founder of the Miami Design Preservation League and helped lead efforts to create the famed Miami Beach Art Deco District. He has written three books on architecture and art and will continue to lecture and write.

Please, join me in wishing Mike well.

César

César Mendoza
VP Information Technology
Miami Herald Media Company

From: Rojas, Jorge - Miami
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 2:56 PM
To: MIA Newsroom
Subject: Farewell Beasley

THAT'S RACIN':

We're sorry to announce that Adam Beasley's career is taking another turn. He is leaving The Herald to become Director of Public Relations at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Adam has done a little bit of everything here over the past five years, but he is perhaps best known for landing provocative stories on 1A, whether news, business or sports.

Adam's greatest hits included a front page story that helped a homeless man gain a $25,000 inheritance; the exploits of the "hooker bus'' on Miami Beach; exposing Club Mansion bouncers' nasty habit of beating up patrons; and reporting on the Fort Lauderdale police chief being shot at by his wife.

Most recently, Adam was the FIU sportswriter, where he tracked the football's teams journey to its first bowl game, chronicled Garrett Wittels' hitting streak and then helped break the news of Wittels' rape charges in the Bahamas.

Adam leaves with a great track record, so we'll wave him goodbye with checkered flag. His last day is Friday.

We intend to fill the FIU beat reporter's job quickly. If you are interested, please contact me ASAP.

Jorge