Losing Dwayne Yancey Is a Huge 

Blow to Roanoke Valley Journalism

Dwayne Yancey

About an hour ago, I posted on Facebook that Dwayne Yancey is resigning as the editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times, a position he has held for some time. He has been with the paper since August 1982.

Dwayne is a guy who is leaving an indelible mark, an old-line journalist who understands the place of newshounds in a community. He has the awards to prove his bona fides and is a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame, not something given out easily and rarely presented to people still working.

In an internet communication, Dwayne said the choice to leave was his and that he will likely have more to say about it after he is gone. His last day is Friday (August 20).

The Times has been hemorrhaging institutional memory and enormous journalistic talent for a few years now and that surgery (to mix a metaphor) is making its way into the bone. The reporters remaining--and there are some excellent ones--have to be thinking long and hard today about what their futures are. I did a story for The Roanoker magazine a bit ago about all the journalists (print and electronic) who are leaving the field, primarily because they can't make a living in it any longer. It was a sad piece and it's getting sadder.

Dwayne's dad has been ill in recent months, which led him to settle into the Harrisonburg area to help provide care. I don't know if that has to do with Dwayne's resignation, but we'll know eventually.

As many of you know, Dwayne is a successful playwright and his plays are often being presented in several countries at the same time. My guess is that will continue because he loves it and he's good at it.

He is so good at being an editorial page editor that I believe him to be at least the very best in Virginia. His award shelves would testify to that. He is as productive as any newspaper employee I've ever known and his editorials are always fair, always minutely researched and beautifully written. I'm not sure if he's a liberal or a conservative because he plays in both ballparks on occasion, but I know he always knows what he's writing and what it means.

He has been a fierce defender and promoter of Southwest Virginia, the most ignored part of the state and his occasional series on economic development in that section have been memorable.

I don't know how a small-town newspaper replaces a guy like Dwayne Yancey, or even if it can. I hope it will try because we need that kind of rare advocacy, written by a man just about everybody--regardless of your side of the political spectrum--respects.

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I thought I might finish this piece without mentioning Dwayne's sartorial peculiarities. It's generally not worth mentioning that a particular journalist dresses like the proverbial unmade bed. But Dwayne exceeds that. He dresses like a bum's bed that rests under a municipal bridge. It is part of who he is and even when he wears a coat and tie--which is often--they don't usually match anything and they look like they came from the Salvation Army adult bin where everything's $1.

He hasn't had a haircut that I can determine since ... well ... I don't know since when. But it's been a while and we're not talking about Covid Hair.

But Dwayne is and always has been who he is, a man without airs, without pretense and without any sign of ego. He's also a great journalist and I don't know a lot of people I would call that.