Former and current El Paso Times reporters and editors were surprised by the abrupt resignation of El Paso Times Editor and Executive Vice President Don Flores, which first was made public and reported by Newspaper Tree early Tuesday.

Flores' departure ended a 15-year turn as top newsman at the paper, the largest and arguably most influential news outlet in the community. His departure, made without fanfare and announced by Times president in the afternoon following multiple inquiries from local media, left newsroom staff and observers wondering what's next for the paper.

The Times is owned by the Texas-New Mexico Partnership, which in turn is majority owned by MediaNews Group, known for its cost-cutting, bare-bones operations. The Partnership replaced Gannett ownership in 2003.

While Flores' legacy at the paper will be met with mixed reviews – he took over in 1993, when the Times was a Gannett newspaper, and ushered in a period of corporate dictates on how news ought to be gathered and packaged – staff members speaking on the condition of anonymity said that Flores was relatively successful in shielding the newsroom from cuts mandated by the even more austere MediaNews Group.

With no explanation given to the newsroom, and virtually no information released, staffers were left hoping "there's nothing bad coming. We don't know if this means things will get better or worse."

A story posted on the Times' Website late Tuesday afternoon contained no details, no comments from Flores and no quotes from Ray Stafford, the Times' president and publisher. Neither did an Associated Press account. By about midnight, the story posted on the Times' website included this quote from Flores: "It was just the right time. It's been 15 years. It's time for me to do something different. I like El Paso. I hope to stay here, but we'll see. I am proud of the staff and confident the Times will evolve as the industry redefines itself."

Stafford was quoted as thanking Flores for his service and stating that he would start a search for Flores' successor immediately.

Tom Fenton, who was the editor prior to Flores and also held the titles of president and publisher, said the news was "certainly a shock. He'd been there a long time."

Fenton, who is publisher of the business weekly El Paso Inc., said that Flores knew the community well.

"I thought the Times improved under his leadership, and it should have, too. They brought in more capability. They can do color on almost every page now," he said.

Fenton said that the newspaper did a good job of maintaining its profitability in an age of declining dailies and multi-media competition.

"The Times in this market was probably doing what the Times needed to be, basically getting hammered from weeklies like us and niche publications," he said. "They had to go where I think they could have the most appeal ... and I thought they executed it fairly well."

Bob Moore, the executive editor of the Fort Collins Coloradoan, was an assistant city editor under Fenton. When Flores arrived Moore worked for him as city editor, assistant managing editor, managing editor and then executive editor until going to Fort Collins in 2005.

"Don leaves a very deep legacy in journalism, at the Times and nationally. He was a true champion of diversity at a time when others gave it only lip service. He was the first recipient of the APME's Robert McGruder diversity award, and I can't think of anyone who deserved the honor more," Moore said. "In El Paso, Don played a key role in better connecting El Paso with state government. At a time when many newspapers backed away from legislative coverage, Don was a firm advocate for making sure that El Pasoans understood what was happening in Austin."

Pat McDonnell, an assistant city editor at the Las Vegas Sun who served as a city editor under Flores, said that Flores "was a tremendous teacher to me, and I have him to thank for where I am at today in this business because he and Bob Moore are the ones who decided to put me in charge of the metro desk. (I think they were desperate at the time.)"

McDonnell said that "Don had high standards and always saw possibilities for improvement. He expected excellence. He once told me when I was a little frustrated that I didn't realize how much he and I were really alike. I came to appreciate that and realize how right he was when I moved away. You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, as they say. I found that I expected excellence too, and I missed having Don there to back me up."

"I wish him well and hope that he will now finally have some time to put his golf clubs into the belly of a Southwest jet and come visit me out here in Las Vegas," McDonnell said.

Flores was active in various community groups, including a stint as a board member for the Paso del Norte Heath Foundation. He also was appointed by then Gov. George W. Bush to the Texas State University System Board, which oversees his alma mater, Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos.

He was a familiar and confidant of El Paso's business and civic leadership, and news of his leaving quickly rippled through the community.

At the City Council meeting, Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority board member Ralph Adame said Flores "was an asset to the community ... he will definitely leave a void. I'm sorry to see him leave."

Mayor John Cook, during a break in the meeting, said in response to a request for comment that the Times recently had lost several of its top reporters – including David Crowder, who joined Newspaper Tree, and Tammy Fonce-Olivas, who joined the city as a public information officer – and "it's not surprising there are changes in the organization. Newspapers are facing serious challenges."

Before coming to El Paso, Flores "was president and publisher of the Iowa City Press-Citizen in Iowa City," stated his bio on the Texas State University System web site.

"Since joining the Gannett Company in 1985, he has held editing and management positions at the Tucson Citizen in Tucson, Arizona; the New Mexican in Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Visalia Times-Delta in Visalia, California; and the Gannett West in Reno, Nevada.

"He was formerly an editor with the Dallas Morning News and has been an editor or reporter for the Dallas Times Herald, the Abilene Reporter-News and the San Marcos Daily Record. Mr. Flores' professional memberships include the American Society of Newspaper Associations of America and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, where he has served as director, vice president and president."

His tenure in El Paso carried with it several controversies, including in 1996, when the then-editorial board, made up of community members, voted to endorse Jose Luis Sanchez, the former congressional aide for U.S. Rep. Ron Coleman. But Flores overruled the board, and the newspaper endorsed Silvestre Reyes, who won the election.

He famously said, "I am the board" when confronted by protestors, who presented him with a plastic sled plastered with the word "Rosebud."

Flores did not know what the reference was, remembered Debbie Nathan, an El Paso journalist now based in New York and a critic of the El Paso Times specifically, and the corporate media in general.

"Any journalist who doesn't know what Rosebud is …"

Nathan said that "I don’t know whether he stands out personally as a bad editor … or whether he was the kind of editor that Gannett would need for a paper they didn’t want to put any money into. That's what seemed to me was the big problem with the Times."

In a 2003 story in the Texas Observer titled "Gannett's Man in El Paso," writer Jake Bernstein observed that "Gannett's conservative, bottom-line outlook and El Paso's impoverished immigrant base are less than fertile soil for growing a strong and dynamic newspaper. It doesn't help that the company man in charge does not appear sensitive to what makes El Paso both special and tragic."

Nathan said that looking back at Flores' legacy is now not as important as looking forward.

"So Don Flores is gone, so what? Who's going to replace him? That's the real question.

"Rather than evaluating who the guy is and what he did, the important question is did he resign because of something they're going to do? Are they going to make it worse?"

That's a question the Times itself, or at least the ones who edit, write, report, take photos, create graphics, design and write headlines must be asking themselves.

"Some people think this could be a good thing, that they'll bring in someone great," said one staff member. "The rest of us think, this could be something bad."