Alan Moyer, longtime managing editor at Republic (and baseball fan), dies at age 94

Alan Moyer, an accomplished journalist who rose from sports editor of his college newspaper in Iowa to managing editor of the Phoenix Gazette and then The Arizona Republic, died Aug. 10 in Tucson at age 94.

Moyer was hired in 1973 as managing editor of the Phoenix Gazette and, in 1982, he assumed managing editor responsibilities for The Republic, where he remained until his retirement in 1988.

Bill Shover, Phoenix Newspapers' longtime community affairs director, worked with Moyer at the Gazette and Republic. He described Moyer as an “old-style, 1950s-era reporter” who kept a level head, was focused on facts not hearsay and rarely showed any anger.

When Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles was seriously injured and later died in 1976 from injuries after a car bombing, Shover remembers Moyer calming down the staff and urging them to let the police do their work, without hitting bars and other locales in search of digging up tips that might prove inaccurate.

Moyer also was a lifelong baseball fan who, among other things, led a group of investors who brought minor league baseball to Wichita, Kansas, for 15 years with the Triple-A Aeros.

He spent hours hitting baseballs and pitching batting practice with his sons Stanley and Glenn and, in retirement, belonged to an informal group of former professional and recreational ballplayers, his daughter Virginia recalled.

He even insisted on a clause in his editor contracts allowing him to take time off when his beloved St. Louis Cardinals made it to the World Series.

On family vacations, no matter where they lived, those trips invariably went through St. Louis, Virginia said in an email. Moyer’s death came after a year of declining health accompanied by Alzheimer’s disease.

A Midwestern background

Alan Dean Moyer was born Sept. 4, 1928, on his family’s farm near Galva, Iowa, though he grew up in New Jersey. He started college in 1946 in Kansas before transferring to the University of Iowa, where he served as sports editor of the Daily Iowan, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1950. That July, he married Patricia "Pat" Krecker in Madison, Wisconsin.

“Any news about Iowa seemed to get good play in (our) papers,” Shover joked.

After earning his college degree, Moyer spent the next several years in various reporter, photographer and editor roles for newspapers including the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, the Examiner-Enterprise in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and the Reporter-News in Abilene, Texas. He served as makeup editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer from 1955 to 1963 and, from 1963 to 1973, he worked for the Wichita Eagle and Wichita Beacon, rising to executive editor.

While working in Wichita, Moyer was very involved with the minor-league baseball organization for several seasons starting in 1969. “My long-suffering mother went to nearly 100 games one summer, and I think both of my brothers worked at the stadium in the scoreboard, literally in it,” Virginia said.

Family, professional connections

Among professional connections, Moyer was a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and of the Associated Press Managing Editors association, where he served on the APME board of directors, while also serving as a Pulitzer Prize juror.

He also served on the boards of the Wichita Chamber of Commerce, Wichita Community Theatre, Wichita Baseball Inc. and, from 1973 to 1986, he held a seat on the Fiesta Bowl committee. Moyer also was a strong supporter of his alma mater, the University of Iowa, and served as president of the alumni association, Virginia said.

He also was interested in big-rig trucks. Among his gifts upon retiring from The Republic was a toy semi and a lesson to drive one.

Moyer is survived by Patricia, his wife of 73 years, along with daughter Virginia, sons Stanley and Glenn, brother Richard, six grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and various other relatives. He and Pat started taking 4-mile walks together in 1994 and, by 2019, had logged nearly 31,000 miles.

“He had a keen interest in everyone he met, most especially fellow Iowa grads,” daughter Virginia said. “His warm sense of humor and unfailing courtesy will live on in all who knew and loved him.”

Reach the writer at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Alan Moyer, longtime managing editor at The Republic, dies at age 94