Remembering Charlie Nutt

Charlie Nutt, who retired as publisher of the Courier News
in 2010, began his career as a reporter in Plainfield.

Bernice reported yesterday afternoon on the death of Charlie Nutt (see here), whose 37-year career at the Courier News covered many important events in Plainfield.

I remember Charlie as a dapper and incredibly helpful source when the city was redeveloping the old Tepper's property into Horizons at Plainfield.

Charlie Nutt (far right, behind Asm Green), was an
honored guest at Mayor McWilliams ceremony
inaugurating redevelopment of the Tepper's property in 2001.

Working at the time as the city's public information officer, I was scrambling to find historical information about the store, the Tepper family, and the saga of the store's closing. All in preparation for a gala ceremony marking the beginning of work on converting the old department store into a modern apartment building.

Charlie Nutt, who had covered Plainfield's business beat as a young reporter (and when the Courier News was still located in Plainfield, at East 2nd and Church -- now the Union County College building), was a generous source of information.

He had covered the store's closing and the many false starts and dashed hopes for the Park-Madison site. He helped greatly in putting together the background information and was an invited guest of Mayor Al McWilliams when the ceremony was held.

The Park-Madison dirt lot in 1972, with Tepper's
Department Store in the background.
(Photo by the late Barbara Sandford.)

After his retirement in 2010, he moved to Columbia, SC, where he had bought an alternative weekly newspaper, the Free Times. Columbia's The State newspaper first broke the news of his death by his own hand (see here).

Sincere condolences to his family and his associates at the Free Times.

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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