b'Matters heart of thematterThingsthat Matter Since 1990 One of the Best Featuring Local People, Places and PUBLISHER and One of a Kind& EDITOR IN CHIEF Remembering our editorEllen DonkerBY ELLEN DONKERASSOCIATEEDITORRosemary Mattson Nick Humez (back left) in his trademark hat and with the SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER I ofa trip to myMatters gang in 1999. Photoword-provided by Karen Duncan.Rachael EntineADVERTISING CONSULTANTS recently tookquantifyarelationshipvia Rene Conlon basement to go through thecount, but Nick edited upwards to H. Leslie Gilman archivesMattersMaga- 100,000 words of mine and did so Amy Power zine. This is our 34 thyearwith relentless curiosity and a sense COPY EDITOR sharing stories about inter- of humor. I mentioned to Ellen on Tia Swanson esting people in our com- morethanoneoccasionthatwe munitysoitseasytogetneed to publish a compendium of CONTRIBUTORS lost in the memories or surprised by forgotten pieces of history. his quirkiest edits. Nicks editing was akin to an archaeologist Nancy Cohen The reason for my visit was to find out when the name ofdigging deep into the lexicon and coming up with gold. And Adrianna Donat our copy editor Nick Humez first appeared on the masthead.sometimes that was comedic gold. He once obsessed over the Jessica Fox He passed away on September 5. It is a terrible loss and Ilinguistics of a New Orleans slang reference and later told me Malia Rulon Herman find myself pausing frequently in the middle of my work,he edited out an ellipse because it tickled like cake crumbs in Donny Levit remembering a particular style rule he taught me or one ofbed. Hes one of the greatest wordsmiths Ive ever known and Lela Moore the trademark archaic references he employed.I miss him terribly.Cindy PermanAimee Ryan I gladly inherited Nick when I took the reins of theIt was Nicks rigor that made our writers strive to produce Julia Maloof Verderosa magazine in 2017 from founder Karen Duncan. By this time,their best pieces. A compliment from him would put a spring he lived in Ohio so I never got to meet him in person. Butin ones step that could last an entire day. That feeling was Karen did, recalling how they became acquainted. She says,worth the effort to rework a problematic paragraph.Nick hopped off the train one afternoon in 1998 soon afterTia Swanson, a longtime Matters writer and editor says, he moved to Maplewood and walked into my Matters villageLike all the best editors, Nick possessed a ghostlike quality, office. I was instantly charmed and assigned him his first sto- tiptoeing through copy with an immaculate sense of language Please address all correspondence to: ry. She continues, He lived near my then Maplewood homeand grammar so that your piece got better without your real-Visual Impact Advertising, Inc. and often Id drive him home from our offices, or hed walkizing it even had been changed. I never could close a quote P.O. Box 198 over to our house where wed talk for hours, about everythingproperly, and Nick was nice (and good) enough to change it Maplewood, NJ 07040 and anything. He grew up in Maine, a newspaper publishingevery time, with nary a word of reproof.973-763-4900 family, and he began to share his way of editing, and I wasMatters writer Adrianna Donat concurs, His deep knowl-mattersmagazine.coma sponge. His keen critical eye looked over every page, andedge and attention to detail made each story shine. He knew info@mattersmagazine.com thats when I hired him as our editor. Maplewood, South Orange, and Matters Magazine content in-Matters Magazine is owned and publishedI was a sponge, too. Since I didnt grow up in the publishingside out and forgot more about grammar than I ever learned. by Visual Impact Advertising, Inc., P.O.world, Nick was the only editor I ever had. He probably tookI worked with him for over a decade and will miss him with Box 198, Maplewood, NJ 07040. Matters Magazine is free, with editions direct maileda wait-and-see approach with me when I assumed leadershipevery story I write.7 times a year to the residents of Maplewoodof the magazine, wondering how much tutoring it would takeNicks wife, Leslie Edwards Humez, thoughtfully wrote to and South Orange and distributed to busi- to whip my untrained writing into shape. But besides expertlyme saying, Nick enjoyed working with everyone at Matters nesses and surrounding communities total-ing 16,000. Subscriptions are available toediting my stories and those of other Matters writers, Nick be- and took special pleasure in observing that his editorial efforts non-residents for $30 (U.S.), $40 (Foreign)came a pen pal of sorts, telling me about his days and opinions. ever the pedagoguehad taken root[he] would tell you annually. No part of the publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced withoutAs far as editors go, Nick was old school: knowledgeablethat he is ever so grateful for the opportunity to have served writtenpermissionfromVisualImpactand precise. Besides attending to the structure, tone and de- you and Maplewood.Advertising, Inc. tails of a story, he ensured that the magazines style was con- So it is with sadness that I have written this column for CIRCULATION VERIFIED BY sistent in terms of grammar and formatting. Nick didnt wantthe first time without Nicks keen eye. His input and approval U.S. POSTAL RECEIPTS. what he called visual speed bumps interrupting the readersmeant the world to me. Yet his imprint on Matters Magazine READ & RECYCLE experience. during his tenure of 23 years remains. And for that I am in-Matters Magazine writer Donny Levit says, Its hard todebted to him. 8/ matters magazine / fall 2023'