“Douglas Spangler was a throwback,” C.T. Bowen of The St. Petersburg Times writes. “He embodied the role of community columnist long before the national trend among editorial page editors to welcome civilians as regular contributors to opinion pages.”
Mr. Spangler didn’t maintain a Web log, wasn’t caustic and didn’t whine. He could be critical, but for the most part, his observations focused on fond memories, maintaining a positive outlook or enjoying life’s simple pleasures. Mr. Spangler, a frequent guest columnist in the St. Petersburg Times, died Tuesday at the age of 66. He was prolific. A check of the newspaper’s archives showed Mr. Spangler’s byline appeared 153 times over the past five years. Some of those are duplicates, though, because his copy became a favorite in the Times’ multiple editions along the North Suncoast. I first became familiar with Mr. Spangler’s work during my tenure at The Tampa Tribune. When the regional editorial writing position became vacant there in early 1998, the deputy managing editor suggested the newspaper pursue Mr. Spangler. He already was in print as often as the paid staff, she said. I left for the Times a few months later and Mr. Spangler sent me a submission shortly afterward. From then on, he became a regular fixture of our regional editorial pages.
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