The June 26 edition of the Queen Anne and Magnolia News will mark Mike Dillon’s last issue as publisher at Pacific Publishing Co. Inc., which owns and operates the Queen Anne & Magnolia News and two monthlies, City Living Seattle and Madison Park Times.
Dillon, 63, plans to write full-time.
“I will miss the people in Queen Anne and Magnolia, and the people I work with. It’s been a great privilege to have been publisher of the News for 21 years. But it’s time to move on. I look forward to what’s next.”
Dillon, who comes from a newspaper family, said his writing plans include contributing to the News and the other PPC newspapers.
Dillon’s tenure as publisher of the Queen Anne & Magnolia News began in July 1992. He had previously served as publisher of several community newspapers owned by Sound Publishing in Kitsap County.
He has served as a board member for the Queen Anne Helpline and for the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce and the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce and currently serves a board member for the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association (WNPA).
His journalism has garnered numerous awards, including a first place from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) for a three-part series on sexual abuse and a first place in column writing from WNPA. PPC newspapers and staff have won dozens of WNPA, SPJ and Washington Press Association awards over the years.
“One doesn’t get into this business to get rich. It’s about the value of people and community. Though the newspaper business has obviously changed, those two things remain constant,” he said.
“The News will be in good hands,” Dillon added.
With Dillon’s departure, associate editor Vera Chan-Pool, a PPC staffer for nearly two decades, assumes editorship of the News.[[In-content Ad]]
