When I arrived at work for the first time at The Albuquerque Tribune — on Jan. 4, 1977 — I was assigned to cover the Bernalillo County government beat and was seated beside the City Hall reporter, a young man named Ollie Reed Jr. I had no idea how lucky I was. Ollie turned out to be one of the friendliest, kindest, most helpful, cheerful and gentlemanly people I would meet in my newspaper career. He also was one of the finest writers and storytellers I would come to know.
As I moved on to Denver and later Knoxville, Ollie stayed in Albuquerque, remaining at the Trib until its closure in 2008 then hooking on with the Albuquerque Journal. He won countless writing and reporting honors. He also developed a notable side gig with the Western Writers Association that earned him the group’s Branding Iron Award and, in 2024, its Homestead Honoree Award for exceptional support for the organization.
Ollie died suddenly shortly before Thanksgiving this year at the age of 75. He had worked until the time of his death, which was discovered when co-workers missed him. His final article appeared just two days earlier, a salute to the books and movies about journalism that had kept him energized through the years. I was surprised and humbled to discover that his story included mention of my own book, the biography of Carl Magee, founder of the Tribune, where he and I had met nearly 48 years earlier.
Some wonderful tributes have been written about Ollie by colleagues Phill Casaus and Rick Wright. He will be greatly missed.
Jack McElroy Books 