Georgia journalism is the poorer for the passing of Joe Kirby, age 60, after a short bout with cancer. The award-winning editorial page editor of the Marietta Daily Journal, author and historian — known for mentoring many a young journalist and for being a government watchdog over his beloved Marietta and Cobb County– died early Friday morning. His funeral service is 4 p.m. Tuesday at First United Methodist Church of Marietta with a reception to follow. A native of Washington, D.C., Kirby earned a degree in history and communications from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 1977. Following graduation, he was for a time a disc jockey in Toccoa. According to his obituary in the Marietta newspaper, after that stint he worked as a general assignment reporter for the Toccoa-based Chieftain, moving to the Roswell Neighbor in 1986 and the Marietta Daily Journal in 1987.
The paper continued:
“Frances Kirby — then Frances Froehlke — said she met her husband when he placed a dating ad in Creative Loafing in 1988. She was living in Midtown and working for an eye doctor at the time. He had mentioned he was a writer, so that was what stood out to me.” Joe Kirby was named editorial page editor of the paper in 1992, and began a stellar career working hand-in-hand with the late owner and prominent Cobb Countian Otis Brumby. The paper’s conservative editorial page is often cited within Peach State journalism circles as a counterweight to the liberal Atlanta Journal-Constitution in metro Atlanta and Georgia politics.
The InsiderAdvantage family joins Joe Kirby’s wide circle of friends in extending its condolences to the Kirby family.
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Community loses beloved journalist
