Orange County Register Fills Editorial Post

Timothy M. Kelly, editor and vice president of the Daily News of Los Angeles, announced Tuesday that he is resigning to become managing editor of the Orange County Register.

Kelly said his decision was not tied to a series of top-level departures from the Daily News in the last six months, including those of publisher Byron C. Campbell; a vice president and circulation director; the director of marketing and public relations, and the manager of the human resources department.

Kelly had been editor and vice president since September, 1984, presiding over a buildup in the newspaper’s editorial personnel and the unsettled period when the Daily News was put up for sale by its previous owner, the Chicago-based Tribune Co.

The paper was purchased in December, 1985, by Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the Washington Redskins football team.

Cooke said he had no regrets about the other resignations, but “Tim Kelly doesn’t belong to that category at all.

“The others I did want to leave. Tim Kelly I did not want to leave, and I’m distressed that he is leaving. But he leaves with my best good luck.”

Kelly, 39, joined the Daily News in September of 1984 after nine years in posts with Times Mirror Co., including managing editor of the Denver Post from August, 1981 through July, 1984, and executive editor of the Dallas Times Herald in 1984.

Kelly’s selection ended a troubled search for a successor to Jim Robison, who left the newspaper in April to become senior managing editor of The Record in Bergen, N.J. At one point, the Register announced the hiring of David Smith of the Dallas Morning News, only to report later that Smith had turned down the job for personal reasons.

“(Smith) and I had agreed that he would come at one point,” said Chris Anderson, the Register’s editor. “Then he, for some really personal reasons, decided not to come.”

Kelly said he “had been talking off and on with the Register” since March, even before the offer to Smith.

Anderson described Kelly as a strong, aggressive editor who will fit into Orange County’s competitive publishing market.

“Tim Kelly has done an outstanding job at the Daily News, so he has really exceptional skills. He’s aggressive, pays a great deal of attention to detail, and is very good with people,” Anderson said.

Times staff writer David Reyes contributed to this story from Orange County.