Ralph Langer, a retired editor and executive vice president of the Dallas Morning News who ran the newsroom during one of the most watched newspaper wars of the 1980s and 1990s, has died.
Langer, 84, died Thursday at his home from complications from a broken hip, including a bacterial infection, according to Kathy Langer, his 61-year-old wife.
He joined The News as Senior Editor in 1981, became an editor in 1983, and retired in 1998. Langer and the late Burl Osborne, who was editor on arrival, led a team of journalists that expanded sections, built editorial staff, opened national and international offices, and led the paper to its first of nine Pulitzer Awards.
“Ralph was an extraordinary person. He was extremely sincere and related to people from all backgrounds. He hasn’t disappointed me once, “said Robert W. Decherd, chairman, president and CEO of DallasNews Corporation. “He ran a strong newsroom and was effective in all dimensions of a growing newsroom. Ralph was a great guy and a big part of our success. “
Langer valued both photojournalism and good storytelling and built one of the best photo departments of any major newspaper.
“More than most editors, Ralph thought visually,” said John Davidson, former picture editor for The News. He recalled almost losing a fight to get the now iconic photo of the firefighter holding the baby after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing until Langer returned from a meeting in Austin that afternoon and approved it.
Bob Mong, who succeeded Langer as editor of the newspaper and retired from The News in 2015, said, “The News never won a Pulitzer until Burl and Ralph got there.”
They were mentors to younger editors, Mong said. “They were patient with us and took us away. Ralph could be tough and thoughtful. “
Gilbert Bailon, editor of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said he was one of many beneficiaries of Langer’s sponsorship of people so that they can get promoted and go and thrive in other places.
“He could be calm, attentive, and analytical, and not have the last word,” said Bailon. “He didn’t intimidate new managers, even though Ralph was under a lot of pressure to compete with the Times Herald.”
Business columnist Cheryl Hall recalled a meeting in the newsroom when Langer got to the point and told staff they had to work hard “because one day there would be a number of journalists working for the Times Herald or The Dallas Morning looking for work news. “
The local newspaper war ended in 1991 with The News at the helm.
Carolyn Barta, a retired longtime writer and editor at The News, said Langer would never sit at the head of the table during the daily planning meetings in the newsroom, but instead always chair the meeting from a center chair.
“He set a good example. Ralph never stood in the foreground, let the section editors contribute and didn’t try to ignore the thoughts of others, ”said Barta. He would be in the newsroom at 7am to do his job so he could be available for whatever the day would bring.
In the early 1980s, women in American newsrooms struggled with glass ceilings, but Barta said Langer was receptive to advancing women from an early age.
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In 1985, the editors of the Dallas Morning News gathered for the daily “budget” meeting at 3:00 pm. Ralph Langer is on the far right on the back wall.(DMN files)
Barta became political editor and Sharon Grigsby, now a columnist for the Dallas Morning News, was its assistant editor in 1984 when Dallas hosted the Republican National Convention, which nominated then-President Ronald Reagan and Vice-President George HW Bush for re-election.
“Ralph kept up with us, but left us with our political coverage in the middle of a newspaper war and a national convention,” said Barta. “I can’t say enough about what a great team player and all-round good guy he was.”
Langer also made contact with the black community early on when he invited local leaders who were upset about the coverage to speak to staff, Bailon said. “Now it’s more common to reach out to churches that don’t feel well covered, but he saw the need to do so at the time.”
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In 1984 Bozo paid a surprise visit to the clown Ralph Langer during an election campaign in Dallas.(DMN files)
Osborne and Langer planned their initial strategy of winning the newspaper war by focusing on building business and sports coverage.
“When Robert Decherd took over, the newspaper was called the Dallas Morning Snooze,” said Dave Smith, a contemporary of Langer who was hired as a sports editor. “Ralph was a problem child. He was a stabilizing force and could do anything that had to be done to compete and beat the Times Herald. “
Decherd said when he hired Osborne they agreed that he “needed a strong person in the newsroom because not only was it a highly competitive market, but we were growing too”.
“Ralph and Burl knew each other professionally before they came here and it was a quick start,” said Decherd. “Speed was important.” The two were able to take advantage of the moment in Dallas with new branding areas such as High Profile and Fashion Dallas. Both were “awkward, newspapers didn’t do it to serve society,” said Decherd, and both were lucrative sections for many years.
“In the early 80s and 90s we had a pantheon of good ideas. Ralph was able to find talents like Bob Mong who can delegate the duties and find great writers and photographers, ”said Decherd.
Long was the calming influence on Osborne’s new ideas, said Decherd. “Ralph was the interpreter. He also had the management ability to take responsibility and make sure we did what we said, and did it well. “
It was Langer’s idea to have a focus on photography, Davidson said, and the paper was recognized nationwide for doing so. Photography was a personal passion for Langer.
“He took a lot of photos, more than I did,” Davidson said on her regular fishing trips. “And they were good. They weren’t tourist photos. They weren’t snapshots. They were thoughtful, storytelling photos. “
From left: Editor-in-Chief Bill Evans, Editor-in-Chief Ralph Langer, photographer David Woo, and cameraman John Davidson reviewed photos of the 1988 Delta Flight 1141 crash.(DMN files)
Langer was president of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association in the early 1990s. In this role he campaigned against the Pentagon rules, which restricted journalists’ access to coverage of the Gulf War.
Langer was president of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas in the 1980s and served on the organization’s executive committee for many years. He was instrumental in making it a statewide organization and worked with Decherd to get a go-ahead from the parent company of The Dallas Morning News.
After leaving The News, Langer was approached by Southern Methodist University to help set up his journalism department and stayed for four years. Once again he succeeded in recruiting new people and, together with Decherd, securing funds from the newspaper company for the construction of a broadcasting studio and the financing of an endowed professorship.
Langer’s time at SMU delayed his retirement plans of fishing and writing books, said Kathy Langer, but he did both for many years from his home on Lake Ray Hubbard in Rockwall and from a cabin in Montana on the Yellowstone River.
Langer also wrote and published three novels and was more than halfway through a fourth book, she said. Langer was also a fan of his wife’s competitive tennis career and often spoke of her skills on the court.
Before coming to Dallas, Langer worked for the Detroit Free Press, the Dayton Journal-Herald, and the Everett Herald in Washington state.
He was from Michigan and was a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Langer left behind his wife, Kathy Langer, his daughter Tammi Starnes, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His daughter Terri Beth Langer Abbey preceded him in death.
A memorial service will be held on August 20th at 1pm at The Yacht Club at Chandlers Landing in Rockwall. Instead of flowers, the family asked for donations to the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, or Susan G. Komen.
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