Michael Gartner
As Page One editor of The Wall Street Journal from 1970-74, Mr. Gartner was convinced a lot of little weird stories were never told, so he created and wrote the newspaper's page one "A head" feature for about four years.
A depository of the odd - adults who watch "Sesame Street," people who smoke Camels in a era of antismoking hysteria - the A head sparkles off the page, just like Mr. Gartner's career.
His A-head on the carrot - "This morning we will discuss carrots" - is legendary.
After a 14-year stint at the Journal, Mr. Gartner left New York City for his home state of Iowa, where he bought the Daily Tribune in Ames in 1986 and won the 1997 Pultizer Prize for editorial writing.
Mr. Gartner's swath has cut wide. He also has been editor and president of the Des Moines Register, editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal and Louisville Times, and president of NBC News for five years.
The latter tour of duty ended in 1993 when, unknown to Mr. Gartner, the network's "Dateline" program staged an explosion of a General Motors pickup truck for broadcast.
He left the Daily Tribune in fall 1999 and bought part-ownership of the Iowa Cubs, the AAA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.
For baseball player Gartner, the wheel has come full circle. As he told The New York Times this year: "My problem as a shortstop is the same problem I had as an editorial writer. I couldn't go to my right."
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