Annapolis: Capital Gazette editor Rick Hutzell, who has worked at the Annapolis paper for more than three decades, is leaving the publication. Hutzell authored a farewell column that appeared on the paper’s website on Saturday. The newspaper’s parent company offered him a buyout.
Tribune Publishing owned The Capital Gazette until Alden Global Capital purchased it last month. Hutzell described the killings as an ‘extreme learning experience’ that significantly changed him. ‘I always enjoyed my job. But I became obsessed with the idea that it was my purpose to save the paper. Using a shotgun, a man attempted to kill us – to kill me and the newspaper I’ve dedicated my life to for 33 years. I wouldn’t let it die’.
He continued, ‘I didn’t do it alone. The paper published on time and won a Pulitzer Prize. The man who carried out the attack, Jarrod Ramos, had a long-standing grudge against the newspaper. Due to insanity, he has pleaded guilty, but not criminally responsible. Hutzell said he is not sure what will happen next in the trial to determine whether Ramos is criminally responsible. Yet he viewed the buyout as a chance to try something new.
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‘When I came to The Capital in October 1987, I immediately told Managing Editor Tom Marquardt that I planned to stay for two years and then join the Associated Press to see the world,’ he wrote. ‘The love of my life, Chara, two kids, two houses, four dogs, two convertibles, and one Pulitzer Prize later, it is clear I had no idea what I was talking about. I wish I could say things have been great, and I am ready for retirement. Despite this, I am not’.
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