Deborah Howell was a long-time newswoman and editor who served for three years as the ombudsman for The Washington Post.
11 Facts About Deborah Howell
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Deborah Howell was born in San Antonio, Texas, where her father worked as a journalist at the San Antonio Express-News and was a well-known broadcaster and meteorologist at WOAI Radio and TV.
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Deborah Howell entered journalism by working on her high school paper and then, as a journalism student, on The Daily Texan, the student newspaper for The University of Texas at Austin.
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Deborah Howell was hired at the St Paul Pioneer Press as senior vice president and editor before becoming the Washington bureau chief and editor of Newhouse News Service from 1990 until 2005.
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Deborah Howell served on the board of directors of the American Society of Newspaper Editors from 1992 to 1999 and on the ASNE Foundation Board from 2000 until her death.
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Deborah Howell was a member of the board of the International Women's Media Foundation and the National Press Foundation.
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On January 2,2010, Deborah Howell died after being struck by a motorist while she was vacationing in New Zealand.
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On February 25,2005, Deborah Howell was named ombudsman of the Washington Post.
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In January 2006, Deborah Howell became involved in a dispute with some of her readers over the contents of one of her columns.
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Many readers took exception to Deborah Howell's statement, pointing to Federal Election Commission records that showed Abramoff had given money only to Republicans and none to Democrats.
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On January 22,2006, Deborah Howell discussed the controversy started by her column the previous week.