‘He was such a steady hand.’ Wayne Markham, who ran Florida Keys newspapers, dies at 71.

Wayne Markham finished the last 14 years of his three-decade career at the Miami Herald in 2014 as publisher of the company’s two newspapers in the Florida Keys — the Keynoter and the Reporter.

Most of his career was at the Herald, where he climbed the journalism ranks as reporter, award-winning real estate writer and a section editor. He then moved to business administration as a circulation director and then publisher of the Keys community newspapers.

Markham died Friday, March 6, after a brief illness, his wife, Lois Wolfe Markham, said. He was 71.

One of his signature accomplishments at the Miami Herald was coordinating a newsroom-wide project on the renaissance of South Beach, with stories published in every section of the newspaper. At the Keys, he led the newsroom and business side with a guiding hand and trust in his staff.

He started out as a reporter covering the Space Coast, where he met Lois, then also a journalist and now a college English professor. They were married for 47 years.

“Wayne was a very smart man with a love of local journalism. He was such a steady hand at the helm of the Keynoter and the Reporter during some of the most challenging years for the papers,” said David Hawkins, a former deputy editor who oversaw the redesign and helped merge both newspapers into a combined online site. “He never lost his sense of humor, and demonstrated daily how much he cared for his colleagues and the community.”

Kevin Wadlow, a reporter at the Free Press in Key Largo, was a senior staff writer for the Keynoter before it and the Reporter shut down in 2018, and worked under several publishers during his 30-plus years at the paper.

“He was one of my favorites,” Wadlow said. “He was a kind man and good to his employees.”

There’s a wall in journalism between the business and editorial sides, put there to balance the integrity of the reporting with the sale of ads for revenue. Markham’s job was to succeed in both, without compromising either one. That isn’t an easy task in any town, but it’s even tougher in small communities like the Keys, where one influential politician or business owner angry about tough coverage can easily organize a backlash, putting at risk precious ad dollars.

I came to the Reporter as a staff writer in late 2005 after covering national energy policy for five years in Washington, D.C. I became the paper’s editor in early 2006.

But I started my career as a reporter for a small paper in Delaware in 2000, where one of my lasting memories was my bosses killing a story I uncovered about a builder hoodwinking a community to win support for a major development project. I almost quit the business before I really got started.

I brought that up over dinner with Wayne when he interviewed me for the job here. He assured me that would never happen under his watch. Not only did he make good on that promise, Wayne guided our award-winning coverage on many hard-hitting stories. They included one that turned out to be particularly painful for the Keys. It was a major financial scandal involving the theft of half a million dollars in taxpayer money, a scheme that brought down almost the entire administrative staff of the school district in 2008 and 2009.

Just about every major player in the Keys knew someone involved in the ordeal, and several people in high places, including elected officials, told us we were harming the community by exposing what was happening in the school district.

Wayne was undeterred. He knew his then-young staff was hungry to keep pushing for the truth. He not only had our backs, he advised us how to proceed, and plied his own sources for information that turned out key in our investigations.

“I can’t overstate how influential Wayne was to my career as a journalist. The stories we covered at the Keynoter and Reporter, the awards we won, the difference we made to our readers in the Keys — it was all a direct result of Wayne’s guidance and leadership,” said David Ball, a staff writer for both the Keynoter and Reporter, who covered the scandal.

Ryan McCarthy, a former Keynoter staff writer who has since left journalism to become a registered nurse, recalls news he broke of misuse of Florida Keys Mosquito Control District funds.

“Wayne was proud of us for the story, but he was also a steadying voice and wanted accurate coverage,” McCarthy said.

Larry Kahn, longtime Keynoter editor, worked directly under Wayne in the Marathon office, and led the newsroom to numerous press awards. He said Markham was known for not only fostering good journalism, but also for taking chances with young reporters he thought showed promise.

“More than 20 years ago, when I was covering the County Commission for four years and the job of editor opened up, Wayne offered me the spot, even though I had no management experience,” said Kahn, now spokesman for the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office. “I took three days off to think about it before accepting the job. And, from that day forward, he always had confidence in me, always had my back.”

Markham led the Reporter and Keynoter at a time when regional and community papers were filled with advertising and news pages. Together, both papers had offices in Tavernier in the Upper Keys, Marathon in the Middle Keys and in Key West.

Alyson Crean, now spokeswoman for the city of Key West and its police department, was hired to start the Southernmost City’s Keynoter edition and open its bureau in the early 2000s.

She remembers Markham as “a curious intellectual man who brought so much to the newspaper business.”

Crean also recalls the Markhams hosting “fabulous, challenging, stimulating dinner parties.”

Craig Skinner, former Keynoter/Reporter circulation director, said Markham’s managerial skills were rooted in his appreciation of input from those who worked for him.

“He was the best boss because of the holistic approach he took and how he tried to make us part of everything. Nothing was insurmountable or unachievable,” Skinner said. “We were going to accomplish it together — all of us.”

Markham not only created a supportive workplace, he and Lois helped us feel like we were home when his employees were off the clock. They organized both my children’s baby showers, and hosted countless get-togethers at their Marathon home. Through the years, they helped celebrate the boys’ birthdays.

Jessica Machetta, the Keynoter’s former deputy editor and editor of its then-lifestyle magazine, L’Attitudes, also had young children in the early and mid-2000s. She recalls equally Wayne’s strong leadership in the newsroom and his and Lois’ kindness away from the office.

“Wayne was always a soft-spoken voice of reason, no matter how stressed the rest of us were while facing tight deadlines or impending storms,” Machetta said. “He and Lois treated us like family.”

Markham was born in 1948 in St. Claire, Illinois. In addition to his wife, Lois, he is survived by their adult daughter and son, their spouses and four grandchildren.

“We marveled at Wayne’s courage and resilience in confronting illness. We deeply miss his sharp intellect, great laugh, integrity of character, unfailing sense of direction, appreciation of hard work, and respect for friends and colleagues. What we miss most deeply and irreparably, however, is him,” the family said in a statement.

Markham’s life and memory are being commemorated in a private family gathering in Asheville, North Carolina. Memoriam donations can be made to United Way of the Florida Keys, P.O. Box 2143, Key West, FL 33045.

David Goodhue covers the Florida Keys for the Miami Herald and FLKeysNews.com. He was editor of The Reporter, the Herald’s Upper Keys weekly paper, which closed in 2018.