Weymouth Stepping Down as Post Publisher

Move ends the Graham family's tenure at the helm of the Washington Post

September 2, 2014 2:04 p.m.

Katharine Weymouth, the last remaining Graham family member still in a leadership position with The Washington Post, announced she would step down as publisher on Oct. 1.

Weymouth, 48, wrote in a note to employees Tuesday, “The greatest honor of my life has been serving as publisher of The Post these past seven years, working with all of you. Now, after 17 years at this great institution, it is time for me to explore other opportunities.”

Weymouth, a Chevy Chase resident and granddaughter of the legendary former publisher Katharine Graham, had stayed on as the paper’s publisher after it was sold to Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos for $250 million in August 2013. The sale ended the Graham family’s 80-year control of the paper. In an interview with Bethesda Magazine that was published in January, Weymouth said she would continue at the Post for as long as Bezos was willing to have her as the publisher.

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She said in that interview that her proudest accomplishment during her tenure was “the journalism we have published over the past five years. From the coverage of the financial meltdown that started in 2008, to our coverage of Afghanistan, Iraq and China, to our coverage of local governments, crime, schools and the arts.”

The paper is replacing Weymouth with Frederick J. Ryan Jr., a former Reagan administration official who was also part of the founding of the Arlington-based politics newspaper Politico. Ryan, 58, said he would keep Martin Baron, the paper’s executive editor, and its editorial page editor, Fred Hiatt, according to the Post’s report about Weymouth’s departure.

Weymouth will stay on as an advisor until the end of the year.

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