Wally Lage, a newspaper executive who spent his life managing and innovating Missouri publications, died Thursday in a drowning accident in Maine. He was 66.
Lage was vice president and chief operating officer of Cape Girardeau-based Rust Communications.
Lage started his career at the Boonville Daily News when he was still in graduate school at MU.
For his graduate thesis, he implemented a new instant news system to help the publication adjust from printing six days a week to five days. The paper set up an answering machine that staff updated regularly on weekends with any obituaries or breaking news to supplement the print product.
The Missouri Press Assocation inducted Lage into its Hall of Fame in 2008.
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