An appreciation of Merv Aubespin, “the godfather of ACES”
By
Most members of ACES probably have never heard of Merv Aubespin, yet ACES probably would not exist without him.
Aubespin, who died June 26 at the age of 86, was an editor at the Louisville Courier-Journal when he became chair of the Human Resources Committee of the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1995. A few years earlier, ASNE had issued a report, “The Changing Face of the Newsroom,” that described newspaper copy desks as “the Mount Everest of discontent.”
Aubespin, one of the first Black reporters at the Courier-Journal, had a soft spot for the downtrodden. He declared 1995 to be the year of the copy editor. In September, he organized a meeting he called the National Newspaper Copy Editors Conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, drawing copy editors and a few of their bosses from 21 newspapers to discuss ways to ease the plight of the underpaid, overworked, underappreciated newspaper copy editor.
It was followed in January 1996 by the National Newspaper Copy Editors Conference, Part II, in Lexington, Kentucky, attended by innovators and high-ranking editors to discuss solutions. That fall, at the ASNE conference, copy editors, usually not invited to hang with the bosses, had their own panel to air their grievances and suggest remedies.
In 1997, the American Copy Editors Society formed, a direct result of Aubespin’s championship, support and compassion. The name was later shortened to ACES: The Society for Editing.
Aubespin was not one for accolades, and he was not a copy editor himself, so he rarely attended ACES conferences. But ACES named one of its scholarships for him, awarding it to the year’s top candidate, one who best exemplifies the characteristics of a man always on the lookout for the underdog.
ACES has evolved far beyond the newspaper copy desk, but Aubespin will always be “the godfather of ACES.”
Merrill Perlman, of Merrill Perlman Consulting, is a longtime editor and trainer. She is a founding member of ACES and currently serves as a member of the ACES Education Fund Board of Directors.
