John Stacks

When John Stacks joined TIME in the 1960s, correspondents were essentially fact gatherers whose prose rarely appeared in print. Stacks, who was 70 when he died from cancer on Sept. 4, helped reinvent the newsmagazine by insisting on relentless reporting, clear writing and analysis that was unafraid to court controversy. As deputy Washington bureau chief, he coordinated TIME’s highly praised coverage of Watergate, later co-authoring a memoir by Judge John Sirica, a key player in Richard Nixon’s downfall. And as chief of correspondents, he traveled the globe to interview leaders. In the frenzied corridors of a magazine on deadline, he was my go-to person for calm and inevitably wise judgment.

Muller was the managing editor of TIME from 1987 to 1992