John Brewer, a longtime journalist and former publisher of the Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum, was posthumously honored with the Washington Newspaper Publisher Association’s Miles Turnbull Master Editor/Publisher award earlier this month.

The award is given to a community newspaper leader who has “worked hard, thought soundly, influenced unselfishly, lived honorably and is entitled to the very highest honors and respect of the profession.”

Brewer’s wife, Barbara Wise, accepted the award on Brewer’s behalf at an awards luncheon at the association’s annual conference in Olympia on Oct. 5.

Former Peninsula Daily News reporter and editor Roger Harnack, now owner/publisher of several newspapers in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area, nominated Brewer for the honor, predominantly for Brewer’s influence on journalists under his tutelage who went on to become leaders in newsrooms across the state.

“The Turnbull has always been presented to someone who rose through newspaper ranks, became the top editor and then went on to publish — and quite often own — a print newspaper,” Harnack wrote in his nomination letter.

“My nomination is John Brewer. Many of the state’s best journalists worked for John at some point in their careers. And many now publish and/or own their own companies. John has long been a supporter of WNPA, PNNA (Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association), Allied Daily News, NNA (National Newspaper Association) and other organizations. There isn’t a better example of a master editor/publisher in the entire Pacific Northwest, maybe the country. “

Brewer died in April in a boating accident while on vacation in Montana.

The award is named for the late legendary publisher of the Leavenworth Echo. (Turnbull was executive director of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association when he died in 1994 at age 64.)

Former recipients include Sequim Gazette publisher Sue Ellen Riesau, as well as Fred Obee, Frank Garred and Scott Wilson of the Port Townsend Leader.

Brewer led the Peninsula Daily News from 1998 to 2015, and the Gazette and Forum in his final two years of that tenure before retiring.

He came to Port Angeles after years heading up The Associated Press bureaus in Seattle and Los Angeles and as president of The New York Times Syndication Sales Corp.

Born on Oct. 24, 1947, Brewer’s first job was with the weekly Upland News in his hometown of Upland, Calif., in 1965. He spent 19 years as a reporter, editor, bureau chief and executive for The Associated Press in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York.

As Seattle bureau chief, he oversaw coverage of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, and in Los Angeles, he oversaw coverage of the 1984 Summer Olympics.

For 10 years, he was president, chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of The New York Times Syndication Sales Corp., in charge of The New York News Service, The Times’ features syndicate and New York Times Licensing and Permissions, which handled trademark and merchandise licensing for newspaper.

Photo by Roger Harnack Barbara Wise displays the Washington Newspaper Publisher Association’s Miles Turnbull Master Editor/Publisher award honoring her late husband John Brewer at the WNPA convention in Olympia on Oct. 5.