Lance Parry, retired senior news editor at The Inquirer, has died at 76

Lance Parry, 76, formerly of Malvern, retired award-winning news editor at The Inquirer, former managing editor at Allentown’s Call-Chronicle Newspapers Inc., digital publishing pioneer, and onetime commander of America’s Boating Club Valley Forge, died Tuesday, July 16, of organ failure at Paoli Hospital.

Intellectual, inquisitive, professionally versatile, and collegial, Mr. Parry held consequential senior editor positions at The Inquirer and Call-Chronicle Newspapers for five decades, from the early 1970s as managing editor in Allentown to his retirement in 2010 as assistant online editor for The Inquirer. He was especially ahead of the curve regarding nascent computer technology in the 1970s and digital delivery of the news in the 1990s, and he helped shape The Inquirer’s initial transition to online publishing in 1995.

He joined The Inquirer from the Call-Chronicle Newspapers as an assistant news editor in 1981 and went on to design hundreds of print pages, determine how big stories were played on the front page, and help move the newspaper to deadline each night. He was in charge of the Sunday paper for a time, served as senior news editor, and — in a final perfect match — became one of the paper’s online experts as print turned into pixels.

He designed the news section’s annual Report Card on the Schools, Spring-Summer Guide, and other supplements, and he shared a first-place award for front-page design with three colleagues in the 1985 Keystone Press Awards contest.

Gene Foreman, former managing editor of The Inquirer, noted Mr. Parry’s versatility and dependability on deadline, and staff writer Peter Dobrin said: “He was always the calmest person on the floor, no matter what kinds of pressures or deadlines we were facing. He seemed to be able to do everything, and with ease.”

Bill Marimow, former editor of The Inquirer, said: “Lance’s news judgment was unerring. He was the consummate professional.” Mr. Parry mentored Brian Leighton, deputy managing editor of The Inquirer, when Leighton was a young news editor, and Leighton said: “He combined excellent news judgment with a deep understanding of how our publishing systems worked.”

Mr. Parry started out as a part-time photo lab technician at the Sunday Call-Chronicle in 1964, when he was still in high school. He wrote stories and took freelance photos for the Call-Chronicle and its affiliate, the Morning Call, while attending college and was hired as a full-time copy editor and reporter at the Morning Call in 1970.

He became metro editor in 1972, was promoted to editor of the Call-Chronicle in 1974, to managing editor in 1978, and to managing editor of Call-Chronicle Newspapers Inc. in 1980. He wrote often-humorous Sunday columns for the Call-Chronicle and a skiing column for the Morning Call in the 1970s, and spoke about journalism at workshops and public events.

Naturally organized and adept at technology, he earned a master’s degree in journalism at West Virginia University in 2003, and his thesis is called “Journalism and the internet: Putting things into context.” In the introduction, he said: “While reporting and publishing, gathering and reading, can now be done at light-speed, a dose of traditional perspective is always wise.”

Lance Aaron Parry was born Sept. 4, 1947, in Allentown. He camped with the Boy Scouts, was the catcher on his baseball team, and graduated from William Allen High School in 1964.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in English and language arts at Kutztown State College, now Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, and worked on the college newspaper. He met Ginny Ford while in college, and they married in 1971.

They had daughters Hallie and Christine, and moved from Allentown to Malvern in 1984 to be closer to Philadelphia. He and his wife relocated recently to West Chester.

Mr. Parry joined the Main Line Sail and Power Squadron, now part of America’s Boating Club Valley Forge, in 2003. He became an enthusiastic certified nautical pilot and was commander of the club in 2012 and ‘13.

He took at least one of his several cameras almost everywhere he went and supplied photos for his daughter’s 2006 freelance story about Sri Lanka for The Inquirer. He drove an out-of-service police cruiser with a spotlight on the driver’s door for a while, and, naturally curious, was an engaging conversationalist.

He played golf and tennis, and enjoyed debating current events over dinner. He told colleagues at The Inquirer one year about his quest for the perfect Christmas gift for his wife.

He was a news junkie, his wife said, and they supported the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the noncontrolling, nonprofit owner of The Inquirer, because “he believed strongly in journalism,” she said.

“He was very kind, very loving,” said his daughter Christine. His daughter Hallie said: “He taught us to do the right thing because it was the right thing to do.”

His wife said: “He was warm, funny, and thoughtful.”

In addition to his wife and daughters, Mr. Parry is survived by his son-in-law, Jim Foraker, and other relatives.

A celebration of his life is to be held later.

Donations in his name may be made to the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, 100 South Independence Mall West, Suite 600, Philadelphia, Pa. 19106.