Former Toledo Blade copy editor dies

Former Toledo Blade copy editor and writing coach William Shay died. The paper published a nice tribute.

Young reporters, especially, would bristle at his dogged insistence that every fact in a story be checked and double-checked, Mr. Cairns recalled.

Mr. Shay bristled at sloppiness.

One of those young reporters in 1971 was Blade Outdoors Editor Steve Pollick, then a general assignment reporter on the city desk.

"What a great guy. To me he was a master copy editor and a master of the English language. He had little tolerance for incompetence in writing. He helped me grow tremendously as a writer, taught me how to say exactly what I was thinking in a concise way. He forced me to learn how to write cleanly, accurately, and quickly on deadline."