Gene Metrick, a veteran newspaperman and editor of The Rocky Mount Telegram since 2018, died Tuesday after battling cancer. He was 63.
Metrick was a beloved member of the Telegram family who was dedicated to his community through his years of service and ability to befriend whoever he met, according to friends and coworkers.
He came to the paper in 1998 after graduating from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash. He was hired by longtime Telegram editor Jeff Herrin as a reporter to cover politics and economics. Herrin would later recommend Metrick to succeed him.