RIP Gary Wright (Charlotte Observer)

Not just one of the good ones, one of the best ones.

Few people ever questioned Gary L. Wright. “I’m always right,” he’d boast. “That’s my name.”

As a journalist, mostly at The Charlotte Observer on the courts beat, he usually was. At a time when falsehoods are plastered on the Internet and cable TV as truth, Wright’s pursuit of accuracy was his hallmark, his sacred duty.

He didn’t much care for flowery words or writing. He cared about getting the story right. He was a master fact-checker, laboring over details until he was sure they were letter-perfect, editing and re-editing – then re-reading word for word one more time. If needed, he’d call back sources at all hours of the night, or up against deadline.

Gary Lee Wright died Wednesday at his south Charlotte home after years of declining health. He was 69.

For more than 35 years he wrote about the biggest trials and crime stories in North Carolina — notching scoop after scoop — and winning the respect of judges, lawyers and colleagues with his unrelenting diligence and blunt honesty.​

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article247763855.html

 

Crap ... great reporter ... guy was a beast on double-, triple and quadruple-checking things ...

RIP Gary ...

 

Somewhere, someone should construct a statue with Gary firing one up while holding a stack of proofs and a pen, usually red. It should stand where the base of the parking lot of the old Observer building was located, only 200-300 yards from where Sam Mills' statue stands at the stadium.

RIP Gary.