Wes Gallagher; Former Associated Press Chief
Wes Gallagher, a tough former war correspondent who led Associated Press through America’s turbulent 1960s and into the electronic era of high-speed news, died Saturday. He was 86.
The retired AP chief died of congestive heart failure at St. Francis Medical Center.
In 39 years with Associated Press, the young World War II reporter rose to become a decisive, hard-nosed general manager and president who expanded AP’s frontiers in news coverage and technology.
“He came in like a lion. He goes out like a lion,” an AP correspondent wrote when Gallagher retired in 1976.
Under Gallagher, AP introduced high-speed computerization of news delivery and advances in photo transmission technology. But the crew-cut Californian with the bushy brows and booming voice took greatest pride in leading AP into new areas in news--in investigative, lifestyle and other specialized reporting.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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