In August 1985 I quit the San Jose Mercury News [that’s a different story] and joined the San Francisco Chronicle as its first Photography and Graphics Editor.

Part of the job switch was a ‘run from’ the Mercury News; part was the undeniable challenge of creating a professional editing process for the Chronicle.  I love telling this story:

When I went to the Chronicle, I replaced a box.  A wooden box that photographers dumped their prints into; a box that wire photos and graphics were dropped. The news editors pulled what they wanted or needed from the box.  After my arrival, we established that an editor would help the news editors get the images that best told the story.

By the way, I took the box with me when I left the Chronicle.  It holds bits and pieces of digital equipment.

While I joined the Chronicle in early September, the announcement in Editor and Publisher did not come out until Feb. 22, 1986.