Daily News says goodbye to obits ace
Oct. 07--The deserted Philadelphia Daily News newsroom has been a ghost town since its journalists merged with the Inquirer across the hall, but a few ancient landmarks, including 87-year-old obituary writer Jack Morrison's desk and his ancient coffee mug with the black skull and crossbones, remain amid the silence.
Thick, muddy residue coats the once-white mug's inner surface in geologic layers -- 21st century, 20th century, possibly going as far back as the Jurassic Era because Morrison seemed to be a towering presence at the Daily News forever, wielding prose like a scalpel to surgically extract the heart and soul of dearly departed lives.
Morrison's recent retirement ends his decades of nurturing legions of young reporters as a mentor and honoring thousands of departed souls in his gracefully-honed obituaries.
