- The Washington Times - Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Ted Agres, a veteran journalist and prolific writer who brought his manifold reporting and managerial strengths to the founding of The Washington Times, died Tuesday in Baltimore. He was 70.

In his 28 years with the newspaper, Mr. Agres excelled in a wide variety of roles. He served as deputy managing editor; led an award-winning investigative team; oversaw personnel, administration and human resources; and pioneered the launch of the daily internet edition in 1992.

Thomas P. McDevitt, chairman of The Washington Times, recalled Mr. Agres as “a great friend and colleague.”

“Ted Agres was a key player on the small team of journalists and business leaders who conceived, built and launched The Washington Times in 1982,” said Mr. McDevitt. “Ted’s daily commitment to excellence in journalism and in managing the talented people in our newsroom helped make The Times a uniquely reliable voice in America’s media landscape.”

Mr. Agres suffered a heart attack last week at his home in Laurel, Maryland, after mowing his lawn and experiencing back pain. He received care at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda before being transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he died of complications, said his wife, Maria.

In a newsroom filled with big personalities, it was easy to overlook the soft-spoken, efficient Mr. Agres, but former investigative reporter Jerry Seper said his onetime boss was not afraid to go toe-to-toe behind the scenes with the top brass when it counted.

“He was a great and loyal friend for more than 30 years. I will miss him,” said Mr. Seper, who joined the Times in 1985. “Ted’s office was always open and I took advantage of that many times. He was a good listener, a great editor and someone on whom you could always depend.”

Former managing editor Fran Coombs called Mr. Agres “the quiet heart of The Washington Times from the day he co-founded the paper until he left many years later.”

“Through a series of more flamboyant and noisier editors, he steered a steady course, always offering wise counsel — and inevitably the right answer,” Mr. Coombs said. “Most importantly to me, though, he was my friend.”

Theodore Joel Agres was born July 6, 1949, in Chicago. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in South Asian Studies in 1971 from the University of Chicago and his MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in 2000.

He worked for News World Communications in New York City before helping launch The Washington Times. After leaving the Times in 2010, he became a senior editor of the Health Affairs journal in Bethesda.

Mr. Agres served from 1985-86 as president of the D.C. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

“After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he helped establish an international news cooperative for newspapers in Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary,” said his biography on the Free Press Foundation, where he served on its advisory board. “He also established and supervised professional training programs for foreign editors and journalists working with the State Department and private foundations.”

His hundreds of articles on life sciences, biotech, medical issues and national security appeared in publications such as Scientific American Worldview, Nature, The Scientist, R&D Magazine, the World and I magazine, and Insight.

He met his wife, the former Maria Caputi, at a yoga class he taught in Chicago after finishing college. They were married for 37 years and had two sons, Jason and Michael.

“He was the best husband and the best friend I ever had,” said Mrs. Agres. “He was my soulmate.”

She said her husband’s remains would be cremated, and that a gathering to celebrate his life would be postponed until after the pandemic’s social distancing and crowd restrictions are lifted.

In addition to his wife and sons, Mr. Agres is survived by his brothers Sam and Stuart.

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.

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