Mary Yost, a former opinion editor at the Dispatch who had a decades-long career in the news industry, died Sunday at the age of 71.
Yost, described by former colleagues as a fair and hard-working journalist, died of sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that forms in bones and soft tissues. She had previously survived a diagnosis of breast cancer in 1996 and leiomyosarcoma, a lump discovered in her abdomen in 2008.
Yost has become an outspoken advocate for cancer research and a cure, writing in The Dispatch that he suffered from sarcoma recurrence in 2011 and again in 2023.
She was hired as the paper’s opinion editor in 2018 by then-editor Alan Miller, who described her as a “truly wonderful human being” who loved Columbus and was “passionate about her job.” He praised it.
“I always admired her strong morals, ethical character and the care she took in her work,” Miller said. “She was always calm and unfazed, even in difficult situations, even when she was writing an editorial condemning someone’s bad behavior.”
Yost was a native of Gahanna and a graduate of Ohio State University. Records show she was inducted into the Gahanna-Lincoln High School Hall of Fame in 2018.
Yost had two children, Mandy Hickey and Ben Yost, with her first husband, Tom Yost, who died of leukemia in 2014 at the age of 62. She also had three grandchildren.
In 2020, Yost married fellow former journalist TC Brown, and the two have been traveling around the country in recent years. Mr Brown said his wife was “completely selfless” and a “warrior” due to her repeated battles with cancer.
“I fell in love with this woman,” Brown said. “She was such an amazing person. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like her before. She was one of a kind.”
Hickey said her mother was always patient, calm and never panicked. Hickey worked as an intern and then a copy editor at Dispatch for a time, which she said brought her and her mother closer together over the years.
Mr. Yost’s family will host a small private memorial service in his honor, followed by a celebration of life to be announced at a later date.
“She was very positive, always positive and optimistic and always saw the good in everyone,” Hickey said.
Yost came to The Dispatch as an intern in 1973 and was hired as a reporter in 1974.
She worked the night shift for three years and then covered the suburbs for three years before moving to court work. She ended up working as a project reporter, covering county government for a year.
Yost is the first woman to serve as part of Dispatch’s public relations team covering the Ohio Statehouse and Supreme Court, with a special focus on health care, education, and human services.
One of the journalists I worked with at The Dispatch was Michael F. Curtin, a former public affairs editor who later became the paper’s associate publisher. Curtin and Yost attended Ohio State University together, and within a few months both began working as night reporters for the Dispatch.
“Mary was a model of grace, a great reporter, a great writer, and covered her beats with great care,” Curtin said. “She can be tough when she has to be, but she felt mistreated by Mary and she had no one to come back to.”
Former Dispatch reporter Mary Morgan Edwards said Yost was the type of “ace reporter” that young women aspired to when she started working for the newspaper in the 1980s. Edwards said Yost will have lunch with young female reporters on his staff to discuss her ambitions in the news industry.
Seeing such a successful female reporter felt like a “revelation” at the time, Edwards said. In addition to being an excellent journalist, Edwards said Yost is approachable, accepting and supportive of all of her staff.
Decades later, Edwards found himself working directly for Yost as part of Dispatch’s opinion team, along with former cartoonist Nate Beeler and writer Herb Grant. At that point, Edwards said he began to see Yost as a “very cool” leader who was also very “down-to-earth.”
“Despite years of working as a news reporter, she somehow never cussed. That was part of her generally polite and elegant personality.” Ms. Edwards said. “Her most common vow was ‘get a dog,’ which infuriated me, Herb and Nate Beeler.”
While Yost was known for her talent as a journalist, Curtin said many people in the community and state sought her advice because she was always careful and thoughtful in everything she did. Told.
Curtin was saddened but not surprised when her longtime colleague left Dispatch in 1992 to take on a new challenge at the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA).
During her time with the association, Ms. Yost served as senior director of public relations and was later promoted to the association’s first female vice president. In her role, she was responsible for media relations, public relations, and communications for member hospitals across the state.
In January 2014, Yost became editor of Columbus CEO, after which Miller hired her to the role of opinion editor of Dispatch. Yost led the opinion section for three years before she left The Dispatch in 2020.
After leaving The Dispatch, Yost continued to work as a freelance journalist. She also blogs about her continuing battle with cancer, and Curtin says her blog shows her “great spirit” and her passion for writing. He said the content was positive.
“She was like a pianist who never missed a beat,” Curtin said. “She was always on key and she played beautiful music as a journalist.”
mfilby@dispatch.com
@MaxFilby
