JANET W. BATTAILE

BATTAILE--Janet White. A memorial service was held at St. Columba's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, February 24, to honor a dear colleague and friend, Janet White Battaile, a longtime editor of The New York Times. Ms. Battaile, 63, died on Friday, February 18, succumbing to multiple myeloma after keeping the disease at bay through successful, and at times experimental, drug treatments for nearly 11 years. Throughout a decade since the diagnosis in 2000, Ms. Battaile displayed courage and tenacity, using her journalistic reportorial skills to research and pursue new and innovative medicines. For example, she first volunteered for a clinical trial of thalidomide at the Mayo Clinic, becoming a "data point" in the study that led to approval of the drug as the first new myeloma treatment in many years. It wasn't until this last year that Ms. Battaile was unable to fend off the disease's progression. In her professional life, Ms. Battaile worked for more than 25 years as an editor for The New York Times, in its Washington bureau, and earlier for its News Service. Before she took early retirement in 2005, she worked with The Times's video and multi-media units, after inaugurating the paper's pioneering online video endeavor, Political Points, with ABC News during the 2000 presidential election. During Ms. Battaile's tenure as a deputy editor in the Washington bureau, she shepherded and coordinated significant policy and political coverage. She oversaw national news coverage through parts of four presidential administrations, from Ronald Reagan's through George W. Bush's, and edited countless Page One articles of legislative battles in Congress over domestic issues as well as those on wars, terrorism and numerous scandals. Her colleagues tell tales like this one: She once alerted staff to missile strikes against Iraq by getting a message posted on a billboard at Camden Yards to those attending a ballgame. Throughout the impeachment scandal during the Clinton administration, Ms. Battaile coordinated news coverage of the events, editing major investigative works as well as profiles of prominent officials. She often spent hours into the late nights preparing and perfecting articles for the newspaper. Ms. Battaile was beloved by many for her attention to detail, and her deft touch that improved reporters' copy on a daily basis. She was also appreciated for her buoyant, cheerful personality, someone whose smile and laughter lifted the bureau's spirits time and again. She has been sorely missed in the bureau these last few years. After her retirement from The Times, she also wrote and edited for Politics Daily, the Web site that is part of AOL. Between her stints at The Times's News Service, which began in 1974, and her return to the newspaper's Washington bureau in 1987, Ms. Battaile served as the deputy Washington bureau chief of The Dallas Morning News from 1981-1987. Ms. Battaile began her career with The Associated Press, in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1969. She was transferred to the New York General Desk in 1971, and worked there until she joined The Times. She was born in Winchester, VA, on March 2, 1947. Ms. Battaile was educated at St. Catherine's School in Richmond, VA, and Lake Erie College in Painesville, OH, where she received a bachelor of arts degree in English. While there, she did a semester at the Universite de Nancy in Nancy, France. She is survived by her husband, Jerry Knight, the retired financial columnist for The Washington Post; their three children, Jesse of Salt Lake City, Erin of Yardley, PA, Marc of Parkesburg, PA; her siblings Jeannie Battaile of Winchester, VA, John Battaile of Stanardsville, VA and Lawrence Battaile of Collington, NC, and eight grandchildren.