In Memoriam

By Mark Nero, Managing Editor

The Fishermen’s News and Maritime Publishing families lost a beloved member recently. John Platt Hurwitz, who co-wrote the magazine’s “California Waypoints” column with his wife, Irene Marie Hurwitz, has died.

What turned out to be the final column written by John & Irene appeared in the April/May edition of the magazine, which was the first issue of the relaunched version of the magazine. It went out to subscribers in late April, just days before John’s death on April 25.

There will be one last “California Waypoints” column, however; it’ll be a tribute to John, and is being co-written by Irene with John’s nephew, Ben Platt, who’s a prominent member of the California commercial fishing community.

Although I’m new to the job of managing editor, reading the magazine over the years had made me very familiar with “California Waypoints,” which mainly featured John’s witty humor and breezy writing style.

Once I was appointed to this job and then reached out to John and Irene to ask them to again write the column once the print edition of the magazine was revived, I was thrilled when they agreed, since I had been a big fan of their writing. And to work with them, even for such a short period of time, was fantastic.

FYI, we’re still in the process of determining what will replace “California Waypoints,” but once the decision is made, I’ll let you know.

Rest in peace, John. And thank you.

Now on to the second topic of this month’s editorial – reader feedback.

Although the editor and publisher make the final decisions regarding what’s published here and in the print edition of Fishermen’s News, reader suggestions and feedback are also very important, as they help us determine what topics are important enough to cover, and how much coverage they deserve.

So, if there’s a particular topic that you feel warrants coverage – or more of it – in Fishermen’s News, please feel free to let us know. I can’t always guarantee you that what you suggest will be written about, or will receive the amount of coverage that you feel it deserves, but I will guarantee you that all input will be considered.

If you have anything you’d like to see – or see more of – in the magazine, please email your suggestions to me via the address below. Thanks.

Managing Editor Mark Nero can be reached at: mark@maritimepublishing.com