Barton Morris, 80; Reporter Rose to the Top at Virginia Newspaper
Barton Morris, former president, publisher and chairman of the board of the Roanoke Times & World-News, died Wednesday in Roanoke, Va., after a long illness. He was 80.
Morris became a reporter for the Roanoke World-News in 1945 after graduating from Washington and Lee University and serving in the Army Air Forces.
In 1955, he was named executive editor and was in charge of news decisions at both the Roanoke Times, the morning newspaper, and its afternoon competitor, the Roanoke World- News. In 1969, the papers were sold by a local family to Norfolk-based Landmark Communications Inc.
Morris became publisher in 1973, and oversaw the merger of the two newspapers into the Roanoke Times & World-News. He stepped down as president and publisher in 1982 and became chairman of Times-World Corp. and a Landmark vice president.
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