Longtime NM newspaper publisher dies

Sammy Lopez, longtime New Mexico newspaper publisher and most recently executive director of New Mexico Press Association, died Sunday.

"His family was with him at the hospital, after having suffered a stroke the day before," said Barbara Beck, NMPA president, in a letter to the organization's membership.

Lopez, former publisher at Fort Sumner and a half-dozen other state newspapers, was named executive director of NMPA in 2019. He was elected to the press association's Hall of Fame in 2010.

Lopez was perhaps best known for championing government transparency.

"When Lopez was with the Farmington Daily Times, he took the City of Farmington to court when it refused to release the names of applicants for the city manager's job in 2007," The Albuquerque Journal reported. The newspaper won the case.

"That was huge," said Melanie Majors, executive director for the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (NMFOG), which joined the Daily Times in the case. "It sets a precedent that is extremely important. The people of New Mexico need to know who is being hired for these jobs."

Newspapers he led were awarded NMPA General Excellence four times. The Daily Times in Farmington was recognized by Columbia University in 2008 for its diversity coverage and editorials. And in 2017 the Daily Times, again Lopez's leadership, won Gannett Division III Breaking News Award for its coverage of an Aztec, N.M., high school shooting, according to New Mexico Press Association.

He also served in executive capacities with World West, where he was group manager for eight newspapers in three states, as well as Civitas Media, where, in addition to managing six daily and two weekly newspapers, he was instrumental in launching four real estate websites supported by four magazines.