Thurmond Andrew Horne, hero.

 Happy Birthday to the Guy Who Believed in Me

It was a mid-afternoon in August of 1988, hotter than a smelting furnace, and I'd just gotten home after resigning as editor of the Salem Times-Register, a job I'd grown to loathe because I had no respect for the publisher. I was feeling a lot more relieved than depressed and when the phone rang, good news cheered me up instantly.

Thurmond Andrew Horne, a guy I had known slightly for a lot of years because of our shared membership in a secret society (AA), was blunt and didn't even stop for small talk. "How would you like to be the editor of a new business journal in this region?" he said. 

"Sure," I said, "but I don't know anything about business."

"You don't need to," he said. "I know your work and you'll learn."

Here I was at near bottom on a 20-odd year career and this guy was believing in me. I started work that day at $300 a week, part-time. About 20 years later, I was inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame and had been named the Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (among many other citations) in 2005.

That would never have happened without Thurmond's belief in me. He ultimately sold the Blue Ridge Business Journal to Jim Lindsey, who polished this lump of coal and Jim ultimately sold to The Roanoke Times. I soon left to start FRONT magazine with Tom Field. The rest is my personal history, one I am proud of, when my direction at the time Thurmond came to the rescue was leading more toward the "shame" end of the spectrum.

In the years since Thurmond's call, I've written thousands of articles for magazines, newspapers and online publications, as well as eight books (counting my second novel, "NEWS!" which will be out this summer).

Thurmond made it happen and I love him for it and for a lot more. So, I'll say, "Happy birthday, old boy, and thank you. Thank you very much. You saved my butt."