Morris to edit new site

Rob Morris, former North Carolina editor for The Virginian-Pilot, will edit The Outer Banks Voice.

Along with gathering local news, he will write an occasional column and edit various forums.

Morris was the North Carolina editor for The Virginian-Pilot for 12 years. Before that, he held a variety of editing and writing posts at the Pilot in the Hampton Roads area for 15 years and played a role in numerous award-winning projects and breaking news stories.

He was a reporter and writer with The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette and the Daily Press in Newport News, Va.

During his career, he has led coverage of major hurricanes, blizzards and a riot at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, an investigation of police brutality and a scandal in the Virginia Beach mayor’s office. He helped cover a historic United Mine Workers strike in the late 1970s and followed then-Gov. Jay Rockefeller during his second campaign for governor of West Virginia.

Some of his more memorable interviews included Ted Kennedy, Loretta Lynn, Jack Palance, Sen. Sam Ervin, TV comedian Jimmy “JJ” Walker and a rock musician or two. But the most rewarding ones were with real people on news beats and as a roving state reporter in West Virginia and later Virginia. He started in the newspaper business as a clerk in the Washington Bureau of The New York Times.

Rob is a member of the First Flight Rotary Club and is a substitute teacher. He lives in Nags Head with his wife, Patty, and his daughter, Libbie, when she is home from school at East Carolina University. His son, John, better known now as Dabney, is a musician living in Nashville, Tenn., and creates wonderful Web sites, including this one.

You can reach Rob at rob.morris@outerbanksvoice.com.