From left, Associated Press Vice President and Executive Photo Editor Vin Alabiso, standing left rear, AP President and CEO Louis D. Boccardi, seated at left, Temple family friend Wayne Windle, AP Assistant to the President Dave Tomlin, AP New Orleans Chief of Bureau Charlotte Porter and AP Kansas City Bureau Chief Paul Stevens listen to speakers during a memorial service celebrating the the life and career of AP Vice President and Director of Membership Wick Temple, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003, at the Republican Club in New York. (AP Photos/Kathy Willens)

Margy McCay, left, widow of Associated Press Vice President and Director of Membership Wick Temple, and Temple's daughter Shawn listen to speakers at the memorial service.

Retired Associated Press Special Correspondent Hugh Mulligan, left, AP Chairman of the Board of Directors Burl Osborne, center, and Wick Temple III, right, son of AP Vice President and Director of Membership Wick Temple, chat before a memorial service celebrating the senior Temple's life and career, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003, at the Republican Club in New York.

By LARRY McSHANE
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Wick Temple, who rose from reporter to vice president during his four decades with The Associated Press, was hailed at a memorial service for his wit, work and amazing way with people.

"He was well-named," said retired AP Special Correspondent Hugh Mulligan, one of many longtime friends at the midtown Manhattan memorial Tuesday. "Wick radiated warmth, and illuminated the lives of those around him."

Louis D. Boccardi, AP president and chief executive officer, said calls had come in from around the world conveying sadness, memories and affection for the man who was a familiar presence at AP's Rockefeller Center headquarters.

Virtually every caller, Boccardi said, delivered the same message: "Wick was patient, and caring, and helpful, and an inspiration, a man of innate decency, a man always with a moment for anyone who needed him."

Temple, 65, died on Feb. 1 while en route to a New York hospital with his wife, AP director of personnel Margy McCay. He had been undergoing treatment for throat cancer.

Temple began his career with the AP as a reporter in Arkansas, during the civil-rights era. He became correspondent in St. Louis and bureau chief in Helena, Mont., and Seattle before coming to New York as sports editor. He eventually became managing editor, supervising the daily news report, before heading the personnel and newspaper membership departments.

Many of those who relied on Temple for counsel over the years turned out for the memorial, from his family and friends to more than 20 AP bureau chiefs from around the country to the president of Canadian Press.

The overflow crowd of more than 200 people heard from a dozen speakers, including Temple's 11-year-old granddaughter, Casey Halter, and the chairman of the AP board of directors, Burl Osborne.

"Wick was the personification of everything the AP stands for," Osborne said. "For nearly 40 years, I admired him for his calm, even-tempered, twinkle-eyed approach to nearly everything."

Temple's son, Wick Temple III, spoke of going fishing with his dad as a 6-year-old boy and to the major-league baseball All-Star game as an adult. "My dad," he said, "was really cool."

"He was one of a kind, a true friend, and a great AP soul," said Dave Tomlin, AP assistant to the president.

"We like to think of the AP as a family," said New Orleans bureau chief Charlotte Porter. "Wick was our heart."

Talk of the AP family was particularly appropriate in the case of Temple. He was a second-generation AP newsman, following in the footsteps of father R.W. Temple, a 21-year wire service veteran.

Childhood friend Wayne Windle provided some light moments, recalling the days when he and Temple wielded toy six-shooters together, decked out in cowboy gear.

Decades later, Windle recounted, they had a reunion for dinner in the Rainbow Room.

"From our point of view, this was a pretty highfalutin cafe," Windle said to laughter. "Wick will be missed. But the memories we have, we will have forever."

Kansas City Chief of Bureau Paul Stevens spoke about Temple's devotion to all the AP's bureau chiefs, and the way he took care of the AP's smaller newspaper members.

"Mark Twain once said the AP spreads light to all corners of the globe," Stevens said. "Wick helped make sure that happened." (Feb. 12, 2003)

Related Stories:
AP vice president for membership dies at age 65
Tributes to Wick Temple
Photos of Wick Temple

Powerpoint slide presentations from the memorial. For PC based systems only.
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Tributes to Wick (14 MB)

Photo slide show (28MB)

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