<div>Oct. 26—ALBUQUERQUE — The late Rob Dean, a beloved former longtime editor of The New Mexican known for helping the newspaper thrive during both good and bad times, is now a member of the New Mexico Press Association Hall of Fame.Dean, an affable newsman who served as managing editor for more than two decades, was inducted Saturday during the association's annual convention in Albuquerque."He felt a responsibility to his community and to the world of journalism, and he was an excellent writer," his wife, Toni, said while accepting the recognition alongside their sons, Ryan and Peter."I remember stories about how proud he was serving ... all of New Mexico, and it was his duty to present this information to his community so that they were better prepared to make good decisions," she said.Dean, considered a stalwart of journalism in New Mexico, joined The New Mexican in 1992 and retired in 2013."He had high standards for my newspaper, so that I respected everything he did," owner Robin Martin said. "Every subject and event he chose to cover was done well."Dean later served as executive director of the nonprofit journalism organization Searchlight New Mexico for two years before his unexpected death in 2020 at age 65.Martin said Dean's legacy will live on."Rob did such a good job of recruiting and training reporters, editors and photographers that his contributions to newspapers will be felt for many generations," she said.Martin said Dean guided the paper through very challenging economic times."Although we had to make expense cuts in all departments, he was able to keep the newsroom going — and hungry for news — in spite of a smaller staff," she said. "He kept morale up, mine as well as the newsroom staffers."Howard Houghton, a former New Mexican city editor, called Dean an inspirational newsroom leader."His commitment to putting out a good community newspaper was clear to all around him, and he provided a vision for how to do that," he said.By nature of his personality, Dean was a skilled manager and motivator who helped employees shine and enjoy the work, Houghton said."Beyond just routine coverage, he encouraged thinking big, like having a reporter and photographer spend months documenting how heroin addiction affected generations in a rural Northern New Mexico village," he said. "He told editors he wanted The New Mexican's calling card to be enterprise stories that helped readers understand what was happening in their community."The paper's editorial page editor, Inez Russell Gomez, said she met Dean when she interviewed to become city editor."It was very clear that he wanted an aggressive, community-based but impactful group of people to work in journalism," she said. "He wanted to do stories that made a difference in people's lives."Dean approached the news from multiple levels, she said."Rob was able to have a great daily paper full of lively headlines, interesting people, breaking news but also wanted us to focus on what was happening beyond the minutia of daily life, so that every year or every couples of months, we would go beneath the headlines," she said.Dean made sure the paper had an online presence early and expanded into zoned editions. He also dispatched reporters to cover stories out of state and out of the country, Russell Gomez said."Rob understood that the news that mattered to Santa Fe wasn't always just happening in Santa Fe, so we went where the news took us," she said.Deputy Managing Editor Brian Barker said Dean instilled confidence in his staff."Rob was amazing to work for because he gave you the confidence and trust to be creative and think big," he said, "and you wanted to reward that trust by doing your best work."In a video played Saturday at a Hall of Fame luncheon honoring Dean, current and former New Mexican staffers remembered Dean as a dedicated newsman and a genuinely good person."In journalism as we all know, many of the best newsmen are not nice people, and that's one of the reasons Rob Dean was so unique," Russell Gomez said in the video.Others recognized his efforts to diversify the newsroom with journalists of color and his emphasis on telling the stories of local people."When I think about Rob Dean, I think about probably the most humble person I've ever met," former staffer Bernadette Garcia said in the video. "This is a person who loved people, who loved to learn about people and loved hearing their stories."Dean became managing editor a few years after Martin's father, the late Robert McKinney, won the newspaper back after a lengthy legal battle with the newspaper conglomerate Gannett. It was a time of turmoil, low morale and a revolving door of editors.Former longtime reporter Steve Terrell recalled a tense staff meeting when Dean arrived."It was the most gruesome staff meeting I ever had the honor of attending," Terrell said in the video. "We didn't want to let this guy get off with, you know, bureaucratic doublespeak and rosy projections and platitudes."Terrell said Dean listened to staffers."A very short time later, we realized he was really good, and he really appreciated good journalism, and he really appreciated good work," he said.Susan Boe, former executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and a member of the original board of Searchlight, said Dean made a lasting impact on journalism in the state."Not only did he lead The New Mexican admirably for so many years, he also was instrumental in getting Searchlight New Mexico, one of the initial nonprofit journalism organizations in the state, off the ground," she said. "He was just very loyal to this community and made it a better place."Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.</div>

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Former New Mexican editor Rob Dean inducted into NMPA Hall of Fame

Oct. 26—ALBUQUERQUE — The late Rob Dean, a beloved former longtime editor of The New Mexican known for helping the newspaper thrive during both good and bad times, is now a member of the New Mexico Press Association Hall of Fame. Dean, an affable newsman who served as...