Charles Rowe, former editor and co-publisher, dies at 89

Charles S. Rowe died March 13, at age 89, in Florida.

Charles S. Rowe was 24 years old and about to begin his final year of law school when his father had a heart attack and died.

Rowe didn't hesitate to set aside his plans and head home to Fredericksburg to help his younger brother run the family business.

That's how Rowe, a Washington and Lee University honor graduate who had planned to study journalism but earned a degree in economics instead, ended up as editor and co-publisher of The Free Lance-Star.

"I just said to myself, 'This is something we've got to do,'" Rowe said in a 1997 interview.

Rowe died Friday morning at a Florida hospital. He was 89. In recent years, he had divided his time between Fredericksburg and Vero Beach, Fla.

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