Ray Warner

Warner, Ray ALBANY Ray Warner, a retired New York Times editor and an Albany resident since 2007, died peacefully at home on March 21, 2013. He was born on March 5, 1924. Warner, 89, retired from The Times in 1984 and with his wife, Barbara, moved from Montclair, N.J. to Williamstown, Mass. He was active in programs at Williams College and in the community. At Williams he was a member of the Faculty Club, president of the basketball boosters and scorekeeper for the baseball team and he led an annual course in swing music. He wrote newspaper columns and many letters to the editor. He proposed and led a drive that gave Williamstown the first smoking regulations in Berkshire County, was a member of the town Democratic Committee, chair of the Recreation Committee and editor of the annual town report. He won town voter approval for resolutions he wrote opposing the U.S.A. Patriot Act and the Iraq War. He had served in the Air Corps for three years during World War II. He was a lover of classical music and opera and was a full-time volunteer usher at Tanglewood for 15 years. He completed two years of graduate work at Rutgers University after gaining an M.A. in political science from Western Reserve University. He became an adjunct professor at three colleges while continuing his newspaper work. In Albany, he resided in the Buckingham Lake district. He was a longtime activist with the American Civil Liberties Union and served on the board of the Albany chapter until he resigned in a protest involving the national organization's endorsement of Citizens United, the Supreme Court ruling that supported unlimited spending in political campaigns. He was a member of the Unitarian-Universalist Society, the Humanist Society and of Swingtime, an organization of musicians and lovers of jazz. He had played the clarinet. He participated in the pool league of the Colonie Senior Citizens Club. He was unsuccessful in most of his efforts to get letters to the editor of the Times Union published and he was very critical of the paper's editorial policies, some of which he criticized in the unpublished letters. He is survived by his wife, whom he married in 1950 after they had attended Ursinus College together and by four children and seven grandchildren. A private reception will be held at the convenience of the family and friends. See funeral home website.