By Paul Schindler

(please note; in cases where I am not certain of the facts, I have done the best I could. I only know details for certain after I entered his life in 1979, and from stories of his life he told me, a half-century ago)

James Moran, a talented newspaperman and employee No. 1 at CMP Publications, died at his home in North Babylon, N.Y. at 7:05 pm on May Day from complications of dementia. He was 91, and a long-time resident of Bayville.

Moran’s journalism career began at United Press. He then moved to the Bergen Record, where he was the youngest-ever city editor. In the early 1960s, the Record had a larger newshole than the New York Times. On the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Moran dictated the lead story to a linotypist in the composing room; the story was widely praised.

Later in his career, he became employee No. 1 at CMP Publications, joining owners Gerry and Lilo Leeds as he laid out the first issue of Electronic Buyers News on their kitchen table. In June 1980 he became the first staff editor of Information Systems News, which he helmed through its conversion to InformationWEEK in June 1985. Months later, he was unceremoniously fired, an event announced to the staff and readers in an editorial entitled Gone Fishing, which never explicitly stated that he’d lost his job.

Jim was a kind, warm and decent human being, traits not always shared by editors. A great man has strut and fretted his hour on the stage and is now no more.