‘Voice of the Sun Herald,’ editorial writer Tony Biffle ready to ‘chill’

Those encountering Sun Herald Associate Editor Tony Biffle today might notice he’s a bit more cheerful, or perhaps even happy.

It’s OK.

He has an important appointment to keep. With boxes and stacks and shelves of unread books.

At the end of the working day, Biffle will end a 21-year career at the Sun Herald. The award-winning longtime editorial writer has repeatedly said he will have no trouble finding something to replace the hubbub of the newsroom. His first priority, he has said time and again, will be to “chill.”

For years, Biffle has given voice to the concerns and dreams of South Mississippians, most famously when he urged them to put their faith in “The Power of Prayer and Plywood” in a front-page editorial the day before Katrina hit. Biffle, Executive Editor Stan Tiner and former Editorial Page Editor Marie Harris were Pulitzer Prize finalists for writing with poignancy and authority about the challenges the region faced after the monster storm. Biffle won the Walker Stone Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation for his work.

“Tony Biffle’s editorials have represented the voice of the Sun Herald to South Mississippi and world for two decades and he will be missed both within our newsroom and beyond,” Tiner said. “His editorial ‘The Power of Prayer and Plywood’ is one of the most powerful of our time, bespeaking the dire hours before Katrina devastated our beloved Coast.

“I will miss his irascible personality, and I salute him for his service to the country in a time of war. His love of books, and the Magnolia State -- whose great strengths and frailties he understood and commented upon — will be part of the legacy that his written words have chronicled very well through the years.”

“I join so many who wish him Godspeed and the happiness that he so deserves with his beloved wife, Rita.”

Biffle started his journalism career as an Army information specialist/journalist in the Vietnam War.

After he was discharged, he attended Memphis State University on the GI Bill. While still in college, he went to work for The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis, first as a copy clerk, then a bureau reporter, a copy editor and a page designer.

He joined the Sun Herald as a copy editor but in less than a year took on a bigger challenge.

Former Executive Editor Mike Tonos promoted Biffle to the editorial team when Jim Lund retired.

“Tony Biffle’s fall from grace is complete,” began Tonos’ announcement to the staff.

“I was fortunate enough to watch Tony develop into a fine editorial writer who learned as much from the bumps and bruises as from the positive reaction to his work,” Tonos said. “Even though he was writing opinion, Tony used good reporting techniques — doing the extra research, attending meetings, talking to other sources — that gave his editorials extra depth and insight.”

Biffle claims he never read editorials, “at least not until I started writing them.”

If that was so, he had a natural knack for them, consistently being recognized by state and regional press associations.

Along the way, he worked under two editors and three publishers, the last being current publisher Glen Nardi.

“Tony was able to take complex issues facing the Editorial Board and craft an opinion that was clear and understandable to our readers,” Nardi said. “His opinion writing was well-researched, factual and never ambiguous. The Sun Herald, and in fact all of South Mississippi, is losing an important contributor to our public commentary.”

And he was meticulous. In research. In editing. And in the design of the pages. Ragged-right copy better not be hyphenated. And woe to the fill-in editor who would run a Letter to the Editor without the extra typographical touches he introduced.

“I have tried to maintain the high standards of my predecessors, most notably Marie Harris,” Biffle said. “It has always been a privilege — and almost always a pleasure.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2007 at 12:00 AM.