Current:Home > InvestWill Lester, longtime AP journalist in South Carolina, Florida and Washington, dies at age 71 -WorldMoney
Will Lester, longtime AP journalist in South Carolina, Florida and Washington, dies at age 71
View
Date:2025-04-15 19:17:44
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Will Lester, a longtime reporter and editor for The Associated Press who played a critical role in the news organization’s 2000 election-night decision not to call the presidential race, died Wednesday. He was 71.
According to his family, Lester died unexpectedly at his home in Maryland.
Fellow AP employees held Lester’s good nature in equal measure of esteem with his dedication to covering the news. Executive Editor Julie Pace, who previously served as Washington bureau chief, said Lester “represented the best of AP,” calling him “a dedicated editor who cared deeply about his craft,” as well as “an incredibly kind person who treated everyone with respect and decency.”
A native of Atlanta and a graduate of Emory University, Lester began his decades-long journalism career at The Lancaster News in Lancaster, South Carolina. After a stint at The Columbia Record, he moved to The Associated Press in 1982, serving as a reporter and news editor in the Columbia, South Carolina, office.
After that came his time in AP’s Miami office, where Lester served as news editor before reporting on politics. It was that Florida political expertise that would come to serve both Lester and the AP invaluably after he joined the Washington bureau in the 1990s.
Former Washington bureau chief Sandy Johnson recalled how Lester’s “critical voice” and in-depth knowledge of Florida politics helped steer AP through the murky waters of the 2000 presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore, as television networks made calls on who had won the state — and therefore the presidency — then retracted them as numbers flipped.
“The AP vote count showed the margin between Bush and Al Gore in Florida getting closer — not wider as the network calls suggested. Millions of votes were still to be counted in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties,” Johnson said, noting Lester’s counsel that all three counties were Democratic strongholds, which helped inform AP’s decision not to call the state for Bush.
“As AP held firm — and the vote count got closer and closer — the networks all retracted their calls,” Johnson said.
Lester was part of the AP team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for work on that longest of election nights, an honor Johnson called “a fine legacy for a much-admired colleague.”
Carole Feldman, news editor in Washington, recalled Lester hosting parties on the Chesapeake Bay for AP staff and their families, as well as his commitment to “keeping the Halloween pumpkin we kept on our editing desk filled with candy year round. He regarded the AP as his family, and he demonstrated that every day,” she said.
“Will always had a sense of humor and, better still, perspective when all hell was breaking loose,” said Bruce Smith, a retired AP correspondent in South Carolina who recalled a time when an angry state senator confronted Lester after he had written an unfavorable story.
“Will held up his tape recorder and told him something to the effect of ‘Senator, I have everything you said right here on tape,’ to which the senator sneered ‘Son, your tape — it lies!’”
“Will always laughed about that one,” Smith added.
Anna Johnson, AP’s Washington bureau chief, called him “an extremely kind and generous colleague who always had a nice word to say about the people he worked with.”
Beyond his work covering the news, Lester was remembered for his dedication to supporting fellow journalists. Serving as a co-steward of the Washington shop for the union that represents AP journalists, Lester helped lead efforts to recruit new members and innovate ways to help keep employees engaged with negotiations.
As tributes to him rolled in on social media, many colleagues shared a common refrain, “Will always had my back,” several said. “Will had all of our backs,” replied another.
Lester also helped lead the awards program for the National Press Club, whose president Emily Wilkins said she was “always struck by his passion and dedication to recognizing and honoring the work of his peers.”
Retired AP editor Merrill Hartson perhaps best encapsulated Lester’s multi-faceted talents and dogged sense for news: “When there was a Will, there was a way.”
A private family ceremony will take place at a later date.
___
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
veryGood! (17)
Related
- Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
- 'I want the WNBA to grow': Angel Reese calls for expansion teams to help incoming stars
- Isabel Cañas' 'Vampires of El Norte' elegantly navigates a multiplicity of genres
- 2023 track and field world championships: Dates, times, how to watch, must-see events
- Trump's 'stop
- 2 arrested, including former employee, charged in connection with theft of almost $500K from bank
- Hiker who died in fall from Wisconsin bluff is identified as a 42-year-old Indiana man
- Teen in stolen car leads police on 132 mph chase near Chicago before crashing
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Ukraine claims it has retaken key village from Russians as counteroffensive grinds on
Ranking
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- After Israeli raids, Palestinian police struggle in militant hotbed, reflecting region on the brink
- Seattle Mariners' Dylan Moore commits all-time brutal baserunning blunder
- Survey shows half of Americans have tried marijuana. See how many say they still do.
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- The Blind Side: Michael Oher’s Former Football Coach Says He Knows What He Witnessed With Tuohys
- The U.S. imports most of its solar panels. A new ruling may make that more expensive
- Ukraine claims it has retaken key village from Russians as counteroffensive grinds on
Recommendation
Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
USWNT general manager Kate Markgraf parts ways with team after early World Cup exit
North Carolina laws curtailing transgender rights prompt less backlash than 2016 ‘bathroom bill’
Why Normal People’s Paul Mescal Is “Angry” About Interest in His Personal Life
What to watch: O Jolie night
Taiwan's companies make the world's electronics. Now they want to make weapons
Middle-aged US adults binge drinking, using marijuana at record levels, new study finds
'Pretty little problem solvers:' The best back to school gadgets and gear