Vice President and Director of World Services, to the AP 25-Year Club Dinner in New York

When Kelly Tunney asked me to say a few words about Lou Boccardi, who is retiring tomorrow after 18 years as our President, I had to make a decision.

Should I roast him? Or should I toast him?

I decided to do neither.

Instead, let me salute his eighteen years of leadership.

Eighteen years which began under the dark cloud of Terry Anderson’s ordeal in Lebanon, a period during which Lou, together with Larry Heinzerling, left no stone unturned … no alley unexplored … no clue unfollowed … no world leader uninvolved … in the search for the key that would unlock Terry’s prison.

Eighteen years in which AP revenues tripled, and AP led the newspaper industry into the world of digital photography … establishing the industry’s standard … putting an electronic darkroom into every photo member’s newsroom …converting from ten minute black and white picture transmissions … supplemented by an occasional thirty minute color project … to ten second color transmissions from a foxhole in the Iraqi desert.

Eighteen years in which AP’s services literally reached for the sky, harnessing satellites and the internet to reach members and subscribers around the world, and to speed words and images into our editing desks.

Think back to when Lou joined AP in 1967: War news from Saigon reached the Cable desk at the agonizing slow pace of about 15 words a minute… Two months ago, complete stories — and pictures — from Basra, Baghdad or a tanktop perch in the middle of the desert, reached editors in a matter of seconds.

Eighteen years in which AP writers and photographers won eleven Pulitzer Prizes.

Eighteen years which saw AP move into video news, going from zero to number one in the business in less than a decade.

Eighteen years which saw the birth of AP’s digitial services, the launch of AdSEND and AdVantage, the acquisition of Capitol Wire.

Eighteen years of profound concern for the welfare… the safety… the success … and the professional enrichment of the men and women of AP… eighteen years during which we mourned the loss of nine AP men and one woman, Sharon Herbaugh, who lost their lives while on assignment.

Eighteen years in which Lou has been one of America’s most outspoken defenders of the First Amendment … and the values of fairness and accuracy that are the bedrock of what AP is … and what AP stands for.

Many of you witnessed on TV what was perhaps Lou’s finest and most public moment in defense of the First Amendment, after the Florida vote counting fiasco in 2000… in which AP had stood its ground, and refused to follow the herd in calling Florida for Bush.

When a grandstanding congressional committee summoned Lou and network news executives to review election coverage, the TV folks hemmed and hawed, while Lou told the committee politely, but firmly, to mind its own business.

Yes, he said, there had been mistakes made that night, but it was up to America’s editors to fix them … NOT its politicians.

Let me also take a moment of your time to salute the first lady of the AP, Joan Boccardi … Joan has been a gracious partner to Lou, a wonderful hostess at AP functions, and a steadfast behind-the-scenes source of support during the tough times.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and colleagues, the AP that Lou turns over to Tom Curley tonight is bigger, better and stronger than the AP he took over from Keith … and I am absolutely confident that whoever introduces Tom to the 25-year club when his turn comes to retire, will be able to say the same thing about Tom’s tenure.