Published in the August 24, 2017 edition
MAUREEN DOHERTY
Maureen Doherty was named the new editor of the North Reading Transcript this week by newspaper publisher Glenn Dolbeare.
Doherty began her journalism career as a general assignment news reporter and photographer at the North Reading Transcript in 1987 shortly after graduating from North Adams State College with a degree in English/Communications and a concentration in journalism.
She continued in that role at the Transcript under the mentorship of the newspaper’s founder, Albert E. Sylvia Sr., and its editor, Bob Turosz, until 2012 when the Sylvia family sold both the Transcript and its sister publication, the Lynnfield Villager, to the Dolbeare family, publishers of the Wakefield Daily Item and the Melrose Weekly News.
For the past five years Doherty has worked as a reporter and photographer for the Villager but secretly cheered for the Hornets on the sidelines of any games played between the two rival towns.
A proud Hornet, she grew up in North Reading, the youngest of Jack and Barbara Doherty’s five children. She attended the Batchelder School and the old Junior High School before graduating from NRHS in 1983.
During her 25-year tenure at the Transcript, Doherty won numerous feature writing and photography awards. She wrote often about the rapid growth the town experienced during the housing boom and commercial expansion in the late 1980s and into the 1990s and 2000s while covering her regular beats: the Community Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals and Conservation Commission. Among the most interesting of these developments was the subdivision that never was – a 27-lot proposal on the land that now comprises the town’s crown jewel, Ipswich River Park. The eminent domain taking of that property to prevent its development was made possible thanks to the Hillview Enterprise Fund and the vision of dedicated townspeople who have guided its transformation over many years.
Doherty was a fixture in town with her camera in tow, photographing community and school events, student achievements and Hornet sports teams, earning the moniker “the Transcript lady” from the kids. Fond memories include capturing such milestones as the state championship titles won by the softball (1999, 2007), volleyball (2007) and baseball (2012) teams as well as the dedication of both Kipnes Court at the old high school in honor of basketball coach Barry Kipnes (her favorite gym teacher) and Carey Park at NRHS in honor of the best high school baseball coach around, Frank Carey.
Since its founding in 1956, the Transcript has been the resource of record for the community. She looks forward to continuing the legacy begun by Al Sylvia Sr. and Bob Turosz as the Transcript is welcomed into your homes (and inboxes) each week.
