Deb Withey leaving the Virginian-Pilot
Deborah Withey is leaving her post as Deputy Managing Editor of the Virginian-Pilot.
She’s moving back to St. Davids, Wales, and will be designing, teaching and illustrating in the U.S. Europe and the U.K. from her studio, Cheese + Pickles. Her final day will be Dec. 20.
Deb, center, with design consultants Lucie Lacava
and Gabi Schmidt last year at SND/Boston. Photo
by Steve Dorsey.
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In the official announcement he made Tuesday, Virginian-Pilot Editor Denis Finley wrote:
Deb has been with us for four and half years, and in that time, she has injected a lifetime of passion, energy, ideas and beauty into The Pilot. She has created and overseen dozens of projects that are uniquely Deb, and in executing them, she made those projects uniquely Pilot. The Pilot Planner, the kids’ Christmas drawings, the letters from the front and, of course, our 2007 redesign are just a few of the projects that Deb created from start to finish that have made The Pilot stand out in our community and in the industry.
I will always remember the day in 2003 that I tapped Deb on the shoulder at an SND convention and asked her if she wanted to work for The Pilot. I had just been named managing editor and needed someone to take my place as DME for presentation. I never imagined Deb would come here, as she was pretty famous in the design world and could go anywhere. But I persisted in recruiting her, and a year later, Deb said yes, if there was one paper in the country she would work for, it would be The Pilot. As I pinched myself, I thought, “You gotta be kidding me!â€
Since she arrived, it’s been a wonderful, fun, optimistic, rose-colored-glasses ride. Deb has made us infinitely better, just by being here. We will not be the same without her, but we will always be more because of her work.
I will miss Deb terribly, as will our readers. She is irreplaceable.
Deb has overseen the photo, design, copy, day and graphics desks at the Pilot since June 2004. Like Denis said, her big legacy at the Pilot is the redesign which launched in June 2007. Find a bunch of before-and-afters here.
Before she came to Norfolk, Deb worked as design consultant for the Knight-Ridder chain. Among the papers she remade: The Detroit Free Press; the Philadelphia Daily News; the Centre Daily Times of State College, Pa.; El Universal of Caracas, Venezuela, the Duluth, Minn., Tribune; The San Luis Obispo, Calif, News-Tribune, the Aberdeen, S.D., American News and the Monterey, Calif., Herald.
Previously, Deb worked as design director of the Detroit Free Press and assistant design director of the Dallas Times Herald. She was president of the Society for News Design in 1995 and a magna cum laude graduate of Syracuse University.
Deb on the deck of the Queen Elizabeth II during
the famous liner’s last Atlantic crossing in October.
Photo by Juan Antonio Giner.
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She has done consulting work for Bill Ostendorf’s Creative Circle group as well as her husband’s firm, Innovation. In her spare time, she designs furniture and woodwork via her studio, Cheese & Pickles.
She, her husband, Juan Antonio Giner, and her son, Tam David, live in Norfolk but kept their home in St. Davids, Wales.
Deb wanted to make sure all her friends knew how to get in touch with her. Her studio e-mail is: cheesepicklesstudio [at] gmail.com.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
denis is absolutely right. deb is irreplacable. but both she and those at the pilot will succeed and press foward into their next adventure. though it is sad that they must part ways, i have no doubt that the future still holds much potential for all involved there. most especially deb.
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
We’ll really miss Deb a lot. If it wasn’t for her and Paul Nelson, I’d still be doing supermarket-shopper-level pages fit for some backwater burg. She’s a quirky, brilliant, cool lady with great taste in midcentury modern furniture.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I was lucky enough to watch Deb at work (and to do some lower-end tasks for her) when she redesigned the Duluth News Tribune a dozen or so years ago. She was fun to work with, and her redesign was incredibly thoughtful and area-specific. She’ll be successful in whatever she does, I’m sure.
November 24th, 2008 at 11:51 am
No matter where Deb goes she will be successful. She has the magic touch of creativity. Teaching is a natural skill she has always possessed, Deb has a lifetime of being a designer, illustrator and creative directing to share with the next generation of visual journalist.
November 24th, 2008 at 11:52 am
No matter where Deb goes she will be successful. She has the magic touch of creativity. Teaching is a natural skill Deb has always possessed; she has a lifetime of being a designer, illustrator and creative directing to share with the next generation of visual journalist.
November 24th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Deb, thanks for your mentoring during a great growing period at The Nevada Sagebrush. You helped me raise the bar our little college paper. Also, thanks for all the inspiration from your redesign and covers.