Eddie began writing when he was very, very young … He’d watch the news and catch mistakes these national guys were making. He said, ‘I want to do the news.’
HARLINGEN — Nearly 18 years ago, Ed Asher returned to the Valley Morning Star after working for the Albuquerque Tribune, becoming an national award-winning writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist, following a stint as a reporter with the Houston Chronicle.
At the Star, he took a job as the newspaper’s night city editor, mentoring many young reporters into award-winning journalists.
He died Monday after struggling with health problems.
He was 65.
Early years
Born in Charleston, W.Va. in 1957, he was the son of Peggy Ruth and Leonard Glenn Asher, an Air Force airman first-class who traveled the world with his family until settling in Houston.
In 1980, he graduated from Southwest State University in San Marcos with a journalism degree.
“Eddie began writing when he was very, very young,” Richard Asher, his older brother, said Thursday. “He was drawn to that. He had probably written hundreds of stories. For him, that was practice for the news. He didn’t want to be a novelist. He’d watch the news and catch mistakes these national guys were making. He said, ‘I want to do the news.’”
Award-winning writer
Ed was the epitome of journalism. He was that original journalist, probably one of the finest journalists in our company.
After graduating, he took a job at the Valley Morning Star, where he worked as reporter, covering national stories such as the Central American migrant influx, during which he reported from a migrant camp, Linda Siegel, his sister, recalled.
Asher went on to work at the Brownsville Herald during a career in which he worked as a reporter with the Houston Chronicle and the Albuquerque Tribune, where he won two national writing awards while becoming a Pulitzer Prize finalist for a story on health effects discovered years after nuclear testing at White Sands Missile Range, where the first nuclear bomb was detonated in 1945.
“Ed did some very big things in a quiet manner,” his sister said.
In his last days, Asher was awaiting test results to determine whether a blood clot had formed in his swollen leg, his sister said.
“I’m saddened of his passing,” Stephan Wingert, editor and publisher of the Valley Morning Star, the McAllen Monitor and the Brownsville Herald, said. “Ed was the epitome of journalism. He was that original journalist, probably one of the finest journalists in our company. His mentoring of young reporters — a mentor is so important in our field. He’s going to be sorely missed.”
Return to the Star
In 2005, Asher returned to the Star, taking a job as night city editor
“He was just like that old-school journalist — the kind of old-school journalist every newsroom needs,” Lisa Seiser, the Star’s former editor who worked with Asher from 2015 to 2019, said. “He was the safety net. He was the person you’d run things by — ‘How do we treat this story.’ He cared about journalism and he cared about the readers. I would put him as one of the most trustworthy, honest, most non-biased people I’ve worked with. He was fair — nothing was embellished. He cared about being truthful to our readers. He wanted to make sure the readers had all the facts.”
He helped me through some rough patches, covering the hard stories, trying to make us all better reporters.
The newsroom was his life.
“He was really good at working with the young reporters — he had patience,” Seiser said. “He liked to talk with people about their stories and guide them.”
In 1985, Allen Essex was working as a reporter with the Star when he met Asher.
“He had printer’s ink in his veins,” Essex, a reporter with the Raymondville Chronicle, stated.
Years later, Essex was working with Asher after he took the Star’s night editor’s job.
“He was a very good editor — very thorough,” he stated. “Even though I worked the courthouse beat for years, he taught me more ways to get information. He helped me through some rough patches, covering the hard stories, trying to make us all better reporters.”
Mentoring reporters
Above all, he was just a genuinely good person — soft spoken, intelligent, respectful, and every once in a while he’d let out an almost boyish laugh. We all loved Ed.
In 2011, Mark Reagan, the Monitor’s metro editor, was a young reporter landing his second job in the business when he met Asher.
“For me, being a young pup, he was a real newsman,” he said. “He was a quiet treasure. The one who tied it together was Ed — that patience, that calmness. I don’t think I’d be in my position without Ed. Ed taught you in a way that you didn’t know you were being taught until years later — understanding the basics, how to handle yourself on a hard deadline by staying cool. In the position I’m in now, I remember those lessons Ed taught me.”
In 2006, Daisy Martinez was a cub reporter when Asher taught her lessons that helped take her to a job as an anchorwoman for CBS 4.
“I learned to think and write like a real journalist at the Valley Morning Star, and I attribute that to editors like Ed,” she stated. “In the news business, it’s so crucial to have the right type of mentors to guide you, because it’s a tough business and one can easily be discouraged. Ed was such a gentle and smart journalist. Methodical and meticulous, he was never about sensationalism — he just cared about getting it right. So much so, that with the really big stories, it wasn’t rare for him to tag along, to have my back. Above all, he was just a genuinely good person — soft spoken, intelligent, respectful, and every once in a while he’d let out an almost boyish laugh. We all loved Ed.”
Years later, Asher helped Elsa Cavazos start off a career that’s led to publications in Vogue Magazine.
”He had a tough job. His eyes were the last to read every single word all of us reporters wrote. He made a story go from good to better. But he never changed my voice — he made sure personalities shined through,” Cavazos, who’s working as community outreach specialist with the Northern Sonoma County Fire District in California, stated.
“He treated newbies with such grace. In an environment where things can often feel so heavy, Ed kept it light,” she stated. “’Thank you ma’am,’ he always told me when I turned in a story. He was always so kind, so respectful.”
“He encouraged me when I was working on a tough story, helped me ask the right questions. He would explain things to me using his note pad — he was old-school. He was one of a kind. I knew always to answer his calls. I wanted to — he was our guy. Ed, you were such a class act,” she stated.
‘Good to go’ was what we wanted to hear from him at the end of the day
Last days
Late last year, Maricela Rodriguez, the Star’s former photographer, gave Asher a wheelchair as he struggled with his health.
“There were a lot of things that were overwhelming,” she said.
In late 2021, Asher was the last editor to leave the building in which the Star was based since the 1950s.
“That’s where he would shine,” Rodriguez said. “He was very social there. His talent was on display for everyone to see and share the knowledge.”
For years, after he edited a reporter’s story, Asher would say, “We’re good to go, guy.”
“‘Good to go’ was what we wanted to hear from him at the end of the day,” Rodriguez said. “That meant that what you were working on was approved, ready for print — that it met the standards he had for himself and the paper.”
