When a friend takes his life, you wonder whether you could have helped him find some hope, whether you missed a sign or ignored a cry for help.
In this case, I wasn’t that close a friend, more like a friendly colleague. And I did help. But I didn’t sense his despair. And still I wonder.
In my American Press Institute days, my biggest client was Freedom Newspapers. I managed annual evaluations of their newspapers (I can’t recall how many, but it was dozens). I wrote a quarterly evaluation called the e-Tuner that cited highlights of the past three months and identified points to work on for improvement, a chore that involved reading a few samples from each of the papers and perusing their websites. (I think the e-Tuner might have been the first place I told journalists about the value I saw in Twitter.) I led three regional seminars for Freedom and was a speaker for three editors’ conferences and a webinar.
One of the best Freedom newspapers was the Appeal-Democrat in Marysville-Yuba City, Calif. I frequently praised the paper and its editor, Len La Barth, in the e-Tuner and I enjoyed meeting Len at the conferences. At my last Freedom editors conference, in San Antonio in 2008, we enjoyed a jovial dinner with a few other editors.
Len appears to have killed himself, perhaps jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. His car was found parked nearby in March.
Len lost his job as editor of the Appeal-Democrat when the paper was sold last year. He emailed me May 30, 2012, the day after he was fired, reminding me of that dinner in San Antonio and asking about job possibilities with Digital First:
I’m new on the job market as of today, and reaching out to industry friends and colleagues. I’ve taken the liberty of attaching my resume — which, after reading one of your blog posts, I acknowledge as too lengthy — to this email.
What’s happening at Digital First Media is certainly intriguing to me. I’d be delighted to learn of any potential opportunities for an editor with my credentials.
Freedom Communications, of course, is a shell of its former self, and the final death bell will toll any day now. It’s a disheartening time.
Right now, I feel like the baseball manager who is called into the general manager’s office and told, “Thank you for everything you’ve done, but we’ve decided to go in a different direction” – despite the fact the team is overachieving amid some very challenging circumstances. Essentially, the new publisher wants a different style of management. Fortunately, the A-D’s two previous publishers will provide glowing recommendations, as will others.
I scrolled through Len’s emails and tweets, looking for signs of his despair. The photo he tweeted of a young daughter wrenched my gut. I know I don’t understand, but I got angry with him for abandoning the people who care about him.
This tweet a couple days after he was fired showed the wit I remember:
Just paused for the chickens to cross the road – Nuestro Road. So I gotta ask: Why?
— Len La Barth (@lenlabarth) June 1, 2012
Our last email exchange, a few weeks before Len disappeared, showed his confidence, if only he could find the right match:
My desire is to lead a newsroom that needs a digital progress kick in the pants, or is doing average work and needs the inspiration and guidance to hit the highest level.
Profound
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Reblogged this on the depression project.
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Thanks Steve, for writing this. Len was the first real editor I ever had and one I credit for keeping me in journalism as long as I have been. He had a contagious passion for news that pushed me to be a better writer and to embrace the changing dynamics of journalism with excitement. A final lesson he perhaps has taught me is to tell the people who have made an impact on you the difference they have made, because I regret never conveying to him just how grateful I am. I wish for Len, his daughter and other reporters whose lives he did and could have affected that he had not taken this path. He is truly missed and will not be forgotten.
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RIP Len! You will be missed!
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We never know the pain someone is really going thru. I was surprised when I read that he may have taken his own life in the Appeal today. Len must have been terribly tormented. I do not believe we can “tell” that a person is ready to give up their life. I believe they are in some much emotional pain that they just want it to end. Maybe not life itself but the pain. I hope if he did take his
Life that he will rest in peace and that god watch over his family. That’s why we should always show kindness to everyone. Usually it is the oerson we think are the strongest takes things the hardest.
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As a Yuba-Sutter activist I felt one of my jobs was to keep up-to-date with local news and develop relationships with local media. I was critical of some of Len’s actions with the paper myself so I did what I do with everyone I criticize – I invite them to an interview with me on my YouTube channel. Len agreed to the interview (http://youtu.be/8ZAyw38OGb0) and shared his story of how he got into journalism. He clearly loved his job and I respected and appreciated his willingness to do the interview with me. His dedication to do is best seems unquestionable.
I did not know him personally. However, as a person who has struggled with suicidal feelings myself at times, I am empathic to whatever grief he was enduring if he did indeed commit suicide. Sometimes it’s hard to reach out for help in a world where so many people are struggling to get by themselves. This economy has resulted in an increase of suicides.
Hopefully in time more questions will be answered to help his friends and family find more healing.
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Not unless you could equally and honestly title your essay/assay “When a friend takes his life, you wonder: “Would I do the same act?”
Your approach suggests an ethical error common in our culture: “My work is my worth.”
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I don’t understand your point.
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The original question is “Could I help him avoid suicide?”
1.) not unless I know him well.
2.) not unless I understand something of suicide and depression.
3.) Albert Camus (himself a journalist/editor wrote “The Myth of Sisyphus”.
Camus posits: he only question of philosophy that matters: Does the realization of the meaninglessness and absurdity of life necessarily require suicide? He concludes that Sisyphus’s eternal task put the purpose (however futile) in survival. Hence my work is my worth. Many of the comments want to comment on the man rather than the question as though some are worth some not so.
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Len was a great guy and a terrific editor. He is missed and will not be forgotten. Thank you, Steve, for your caring words and remembrance.
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Len worked here at the Delco Times in Pa. for a long time at the start of his career. This is where he grew up and went to school. He was a first-rate newspaperman, and he leaves a lot of people wondering what happened. Like so many of the stories we cover every day, you end up wondering what we might have missed. And the toll of what we do every day eventually takes on all of us.
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I had the pleasure of meeting Len once at a community event; and I was quite impressed by the way treated others. It saddened me to read about his suicide yesterday; the world lost a professional journalist…he was very good at what he did.
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I still think of Len regularly… in fact, his number still pops up first in my phone’s contact list – AD Len LaBarth. We met within days of me arriving here in Yuba-Sutter in early 2007 and I always felt not only did he make amazing things happen with his paper, he was an interesting and intelligent person. I truly appreciated his dedication to his craft and his willingness to jump in and help out within our community – he gladly sat as a board member for the Arts Council and was a key volunteer with us for events over the years. I’m sorry his daughter will never get the chance to know what a cool cat he was….
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Dear Mr. Buttry,
Thank you so much for honoring this great person, someone needed to and it was you. Len has worked at many other Newspapers and known and helped many people in his field and you have recognized a need to honor him and talk about a topic most continue to avoid. Thank you again and well said.
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Thank you so much for sharing your personal thoughts of Len.
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to Steve — I have nothing but good memories of working with Len when he was at the SC Sentinel. He had a great way of making people feel appreciated, and he was always open to brainstorming and creative ideas (and sharing his perspectives about his favorite Springsteen songs. Biggest fan I’ve ever met.) So sorry to hear this sad news.
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[…] three friends who died this year, Rick Tapscott and Bryan Cantley, who both died of cancer, and Len La Barth, who committed […]
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As of this date, we will never know. I worked with Len when he came aboard the Appeal. He was always a great guy and friend. We talked. He was let go after I was about three years before. Such is life, we must go on. And never forget our friends.
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ive found reaching out just brings about more rejection.
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I hope someone can help you.
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