OBITUARIES: ATLANTA: Durwood McAlister, 81, wrote Journal editorials

Durwood McAlister was known for his gentle humor and easygoing temperament. In fact, he got along with almost everybody while writing editorials that were thoughtful but never strident.

“Not only was he a superb intellect with a graceful, easy-to-read style,” said Jim Wooten, Mr. McAlister’s successor as The Atlanta Journal editorial page editor, “but he was a lovely human being with a kind heart and a gentle soul. He wrote from decency, and when he admonished, his words were impassioned but never intemperate and never personal.”

Preacher’s son

Luther Durwood “Mac” McAlister, 81, of Atlanta died Monday of a heart attack while playing golf in Conyers. The funeral will be 2 p.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church of Decatur.

Mr. McAlister was born in Bolivar, Tenn., the son of a fundamentalist preacher. He grew up in poverty in the midst of the Depression.

His first exposure to big-city life —- other than a trip to Memphis when he was 13 —- came when his family moved to Birmingham.

Mr. McAlister joined the Navy for a two-year hitch and enrolled in Howard College (now Samford University) on the GI Bill of Rights.

He originally intended to become a doctor but eventually changed to English and journalism and started his newspaper career in 1948, a year before he graduated, when he was offered a job for $40 a week as a police and City Hall reporter for the Birmingham Age-Herald.

He stayed with the Age-Herald until it folded two years later, long enough to have the announcement of his engagement to Dorris Fay Curenton printed in the last edition.

His unemployment was short-lived. The next Monday he went to work at the Anniston (Ala.) Star and was married on June 15, 1950.

In 1954, he accepted a job with The Atlanta Journal and worked his way up the ranks as a copy editor, women’s department editor, news editor and Sunday editor.

He was promoted to managing editor in 1968 and editorial page editor in 1978, a position he held until his retirement in June 1992.

As the Journal’s editorial page editor, Mr. McAlister wrote hundreds of columns on topics ranging from issues in Israel, Iraq and China to local politics.

He won the Sigma Delta Chi commentary award in 1978 for his columns on an Atlanta police scandal.

In a 2006 interview, Mr. McAlister said his favorite column was one penned after visiting China in 1989.

“I would go down to Tiananmen Square early in the morning,” he recalled. “This was just after the government had started opening up and allowing the students and others to express themselves. These old men would come in carrying birdcages that were covered. Then they would slowly take the covers off, and the birds would begin to sing. I thought it was a perfect metaphor for what was happening in China.”

In his column, he wrote: “I thought of the bird men this week, watching the astounding demonstrations as a million or more young Chinese milled around testing the limits of the dictatorial society in which they live. It is far too soon to know the outcome of the student demonstrations, but the students, in a way, are like the caged birds. … And their keepers, at any time, can draw the curtains around them and leave them again in isolation and darkness.”

Two weeks later, the government sent in the army and crushed the student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.

While much of his work focused on important matters, he still found time to poke fun at politicians as a performer in the now-discontinued Cracker Crumble, an annual theatrical spoof sponsored by the Georgia Press Association.

Mr. McAlister wrote and performed many of the songs and skits. One year he stepped on stage with his hair slicked down and wearing red suspenders.

Evoking a remarkable imitation of legendary Georgia politician Herman Talmadge, Mr. McAlister brought the house down.

“During the 16 years that he and I worked together in the Cracker Crumble, I came to absolutely love the dichotomy of Mac,” said former Cracker Crumble director Tom Deardorff.

Jay Smith, recently retired president of Cox Newspapers, said “Mac’s gentle manner belied the rock-solid values he possessed. He always spoke softly, but his words carried meaning. He defied the stereotype of editor of a ‘conservative’ editorial page. Labels were not made for guys like Mac. Fairness and truth always came first.

“And [Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial page editor] Cynthia Tucker stands as one of his legacies. Were it not for Mac, I doubt Cynthia would be at the AJC today.”

Tucker agreed. “[Mr. McAlister] hired me right out of college and rehired me a few years later,” she said.

An editor’s editor

Mr. McAlister held leadership roles in both professional and community organizations.

He was a member of the board of directors of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, a Pulitzer Prize judge, a deacon at First Baptist Church of Decatur and served on the boards of the Atlanta Symphony and the Atlanta Music Festival Association.

Mr. McAlister was a brilliant journalist, Mr. Wooten said, but most of all he was a mentor and a friend.

“All of us who are lucky in life are lucky, because when we are most in need of guidance and help —- as I was as a young editorialist struggling to learn the craft and find an editorial voice —- a magical connection occurs. Durwood McAlister was one of mine. I loved the man.”

Survivors include his wife, Fay Curenton McAlister; three children, David McAlister of Decatur, Jane Pope of Charlotte and Don McAlister of Apex, N.C.; and seven grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Durwood McAlister Scholarship Fund through the Georgia Press Association or First Baptist Church of Decatur.