Last Modified By: Ken Whitehurst / Jan 22, 2008, 4:02pm
William Stracener, former UPI reporter, killed in car accident at age 63
Former Beaufort Gazette managing editor William Stracener died Monday, Jan. 21, 2008, in a car accident in greater Bluffton.
He was 63.
Stracener died while driving his 2004 Honda across U.S. 278, about a half mile from S.C. 170 at 2:05 p.m. Monday, said Lance Cpl. Sonny
Collins of the S.C. Highway Patrol. A 2005 Chevrolet SUV heading west on U.S. 278 struck the passenger side of his car. He wasn't wearing a
seat belt, Collins said.
The Bluffton woman who struck him also collided with a third vehicle. Both of those drivers were uninjured, Collins said.
Stracener is survived by his wife, Debbie, sister, Becky, and daughter, Sally.
After moving to the Lowcountry in the late 1980s, Stracener held several jobs and distinguished himself as an talented journalist and
salesman, coworkers said.
Born April 10, 1944, he was a Wake Forest University alumni with the class of 1966.
Stracener was a reporter for United Press International in 1980s before joining the Columbia bureau of The Associated Press in the mid-1980s.
"He was probably one of the best spot news reporters I've ever encountered," said former
AP bureau chief John Schurr. "Kept a lot of politicians on their toes, which was a noble calling."
His reputation persisted when he joined the Gazette staff in 1988. Jim Cato, the Gazette's editor during Stracener's tenure, described
him as a "tenacious newsman."
"He always wanted to get the story, and he worked really diligently to get that story," Cato said. "With his years at the AP, he could
rewrite a story in the blink of an eye. He worked pretty well under deadline pressure."
In 1995, Stracener left the Gazette to become a public relations counselor with the Anderson Communications Group on Hilton Head Island.
For the last two years, Stracener was a sales representative with the health insurance company Humana. In his first year with the company,
he earned a national distinction in sales, a company spokesman said.
Outside of work, Stracener was active at the First Presbyterian Church of Hilton Head Island as a senior member of its board and
former president of the Hilton Head Island Rotary Club.
Funeral arrangements were not formalized at presstime.
(As published in the
Beaufort Gazette)
http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/145701.html
Published Tue, Jan 22, 2008 12:00 AM
By JEREMY HSIEH and DANIEL BROWNSTEIN
