A. Stephen Riley

A. Stephen Riley

MEREDITH — A. Stephen "Steve" Riley passed away peacefully on Jan. 7, 2018, at his home in Meredith after a period of declining health.

Before moving to Meredith to be closer to their daughter in 2010, Steve and his wife Marion (now deceased) had been residents of the Wildwood neighborhood of Cumberland Foreside, Maine, for more than 50 years.

Steve was a retired editor with more than 40 years of experience on Maine newspapers.

After graduating from the University of Maine, he started out on the weekly Brunswick (Maine) Record and moved to the Portsmouth Herald, where he covered York County. He then did a stint on the later Bangor (Maine) Commercial before joining the staff of the Portland Press Herald as its Bangor-based correspondent. Steve spent the rest of his career with the former Guy Gannett Newspapers. He transferred to Portland as a feature writer for the Maine Sunday Telegram, and during his 30 years there he rose to managing editor, the second highest newsroom position. When he expressed a desire to run his own show, he was offered the top editor's job at the Central Maine Morning Sentinel, the Gannett paper in Waterville, Maine. He worked there until his retirement in 1990.

In 1989, Steve was named Maine's journalist of the year, the same year his Waterville paper was chosen by the American Society of Newspaper Editors as one of the 10 best small-city dailies in the country.

He was active in New England journalism and spent several years on the board of the New England Society of Newspaper Editors (NESNE), including a year as the organization's president. While on the NESNE board, Steve was active in a non-governmental exchange program with the Union of Soviet Journalists which took place at the height of the Cold War. He was a member of four NESNE delegations that traveled to the then USSR and was host to members of four delegations from the Soviet Union that visited New England during the program.

In 1994, he received the coveted Yankee Quill Award from NESNE and the Society of Professional Journalists for outstanding service to New England journalism. He was inducted into the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame in 2004.

Although Steve was proud of his achievements in journalism, he took the most joy from raising his son and daughter with Marion and watching his family grow to include five grandchildren. In retirement, Steve and Marion could be found traveling as far away as Turkey and Saudi Arabia to visit his son and family or just across the state line to New Hampshire to support his grandchildren's endeavors. His family was blessed with time and love. In his later years, Steve and Marion moved to the Meredith Bay Colony Club in Meredith, where he felt at home with good friends who shared his interest.

He is survived by a daughter Beth and her husband Kerry J. Mattson of Bristol; a son, Stephen W. Riley and his wife Beth of Vienna, Virginia; and five grandchildren, Emily Mattson of Norman, Oklahoma, Kelsey Mattson of Essex, Vermont, Kerry R. Mattson of Manchester, Connecticut, Kathleen R. Riley of Seattle, and Patrick W. Riley of Dundee, Scotland.

A private service was held in early January.

For those who wish, donations in his memory may be made to: Lakes Region Visiting Nurse Association, 186 Waukewan St., Meredith, NH 03253.