David Gredler, at 84; longtime Globe copy editor, poet, builder of dulcimers

October 13, 2011|By Gloria Negri, Globe Staff

David Gredler was known in the newsroom as a tactful editor who had a sharp…

With his green visor, intense manner, and casual dress, David Gredler could have answered a Hollywood casting call for newspaper copy editors from earlier times.

Instead, he plied his trade as one of the editors who sat around a wooden horseshoe-shaped desk in the Globe newsroom, vetting copy filed by reporters before the stories went into the paper.

“Dave was a droll, tactful editor who kept a low profile,’’ said Dave Richwine, chief zones copy editor for the Globe, who was a Metro reporter in the 1970s. “When a writer saw Gredler ambling his way in the newsroom, holding a long story pasted together page-to-page, he knew it was in good hands. Dave’s goal was always to improve articles for the readers’ benefit, never to gloat over the mistakes he found. He’d quietly work with the writer, sometimes line by line, to achieve that goal.’’

Mr. Gredler, who retired from the Globe in 1986 after 32 years as an editor, died Aug. 28 in South Shore Hospital in Weymouth more than three years after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 84 and had lived in Norwell for 51 years.

John S. Driscoll worked with Mr. Gredler on the night copy desk for 15 years and later was the Globe’s top editor.

“Dave was a sound copy editor who was very quiet, but had a wry sense of humor,’’ Driscoll said. “He found his niche handling photos and writing captions. Captions usually are cryptic, but Dave had a knack for lending style to the writing.’’

In retirement, Mr. Gredler became well-known for his gravestone rubbings and for composing music to go with each one. He also built dulcimers and wrote poetry.

“I can make them better than I can play them,’’ he told The Patriot Ledger of Quincy in a 1997 interview in which he described himself as “a closet musician.’’

“Dave was a stickler for detail and, as a coworker, was always entertaining,’’ said Tom Long of Hudson, N.H., the Globe’s former chief obituary writer.

William Harting of Plymouth, a former Globe layout editor, recalled Mr. Gredler as “a very quiet guy and a bit of a character.’’

Mr. Gredler’s daughter, Lisa E. Morison of Bath, Maine, said her father was always interested in photography and was rarely without a camera handy.

“Dad was a quiet, humble man who led a simple life and was able to devote more time to his photography and other interests after his retirement,’’ she said.

Mr. Gredler became interested in dulcimers after seeing them at a holiday fair at the Hanover Mall more than 20 years ago.

“Although Gredler has spent years making dulcimers,’’ , the Ledger reported, “his attention more recently has focused on composing a collection of songs using inscriptions and epitaphs from early graves as lyrics.’’