Percy Hole, Editor at The Sun, Dies Pursuing Rock Springs Story
Percy Hole, who in his seven years at The Sun contributed in no small part to its resolute commitment to the Superior community throughout a key period of change and transition, died nobly on Wednesday in Rock Springs while pursuing a story fraught with sensitive historical currents to which he had committed himself for the better part of the past year. He was 29.
Stuart Stud, the Editor-in-Chief of The Sun, announced the death to the staff Thursday morning. Mr. Hole, who had moved to Superior after being scouted by the paper upon receiving his bachelor’s degree in fly fishing from New York University, succumbed to a catastrophic failure of his liver after allegedly “consuming a far greater-than-recreational quantity” of alcohol during an informal interview with an auxiliary source, according to someone familiar with the matter within the Sweetwater County Coroner’s Office.
In title, Mr. Hole climbed quickly from Sports Editor to Executive Daily Editor, but colleagues cited several integral, unpaid roles beyond his official functions in the newsroom.
“He was a real winner,” said Hilary Hutch, who Hole had groomed personally to replace him as Sports Editor, “by far the sexist human being to grace this pokey office. An impossible talent. We were so lucky to be work alongside him for so long. There was no better wordsmith in the whole industry. He definitely deserved a huge raise. A true legend.”
His responsibilities as Executive Daily Editor included arranging the entirety of The Sun’s print edition singlehandedly every morning, answering every staffer question with heroic brevity, captaining the paper’s infallible ethical prestige, editing all copy with an eye matched by not a one of his contemporaries, lifting and carrying all materials and equipment over 150 lbs. along with the entirety of the office’s championship-winning, regionally competitive basketball team as point guard.
“I’ve never seen anyone move like that,” said Ms. Hutch of her experiences playing on the team, “it was like he was some kind of super-evolved proto-human. We were really just baggage, mostly — decoration — but he was generous and humble about it. He never hogged the glory even though he almost always had every right to.”
Mr. Hole’s colleagues also described his stellar performance and natural talent as generally unappreciated in bolstering The Sun’s late entrance into digital publishing and web 2.0.
“Pivot to video,” said Mr. Stud.