Opinion: The best salesperson I know
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Januar y 27, 2022 | AppenMedia.com | An Appen Media Group Publication | Ser ving the community since 1976
Dick Williams: Dunwoody’s giant of journalism By CATHY COBBS newsroom@appenmedia.com DUNWOODY, Ga. –– Dick Williams personified Dunwoody. The 77-year-old television talk show host, editorial writer and former owner and publisher of the Dunwoody Crier, died of congestive heart failure Jan. 20 at his daughter’s home in Arkansas. Williams wore many hats, including a 30-year stint as a high school basketball referee, a newspaper columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a Georgetown University recruiter and a behindthe-scenes advocate for the formation of the cities of Brookhaven and Dunwoody. However, his primary focus and passion revolved around building community through the Dunwoody Crier. In an April 10, 2019 column, when it appeared that the Crier would cease publication, Williams wrote of three dreams he’d had as a young man – “play basketball in Madison Square Garden, be a big-city newspaper columnist and publish a small-town newspaper that served the community.” “I did all three,” Williams wrote. “Not bad.” Williams’ dream followed a winding path from Kansas City to New York City, with stops in between before he landed in Atlanta. He worked as a news director at WXIA, which he found was not his cup of tea, then made the jump to the afternoon paper, the Atlanta Journal, as a reporter, then an editor, and later as a columnist. In the early 1980s, he began hosting a television show that morphed into “The
Dunwoody will forever be defined by its founding storyteller-in-chief, Dick Williams,” SUSAN MITCHELL Dunwoody Nature Center Controller
FILE PHOTO
Grand Marshal Dick Williams and parade organizers Pam Tallmadge and Penny Forman blow whistles to signal the start of the 2011 Dunwoody Fourth of July Parade. Georgia Gang,” a weekly political roundtable. His stint as host ran more than 35 years until health challenges forced him to give up his seat in 2019. His dream to own a local newspaper came to fruition in 1996 with purchase of the Crier from former publisher Susan Courtemanche, who had been operating it as a local shopper filled with a smattering of ads, folksy news and engagements and wedding announcements. Williams took the paper to another level, hiring reporters tasked with finding stories that showcased Dunwoody
and its unique mix of news about Perimeter area businesses, local politics, longtime residents and young families looking for a “Mayberry-type” community to raise their families. The paper hit its stride with its 1998 coverage of the Dunwoody tornado and the rebuilding effort that took place afterwards. A series of stories written by the likes of Williams, Kathy Florence, Rashawn Biddle and Mickey Goodman earned a “Best Local Coverage Award” from Atlanta Magazine. Florence, now the city’s communica-
tions manager, who worked at the Crier for years as a columnist and graphics artist, said she hopes to emulate Williams’ fearless embrace of the values he held in high regard. “Dick was opinionated, but his principled approach to journalism never wavered,” Florence said. “I learned so much from him, and I consider myself one of the luckiest writers ever to have learned from the best. Monday afternoon deadline days at the Crier were some of the most stressful and exciting days of my life.” With Williams working his magic behind the scenes, the dream of cityhood for Dunwoody gained momentum in 2000. In his 2019 column in the Crier, Williams said “thousands of trees died for our coverage of Denis Shortal, Bev Wingate, Ken Wright and the leaders of the incorporation effort.” Voters approved the city’s formation in July 2008 by an overwhelming 82 percent.
See WILLIAMS, Page 10