Readers of this magazine owe a debt of thanks to Clifton Paisley, the publication's founding editor, who died October 26 following a lengthy illness. Aside from his contributions as editor from 1969 to 1980, Paisley was best known as a writer of local and regional Florida history. His books Cotton to Quail (1968) and Red Hills (1989) are regarded as seminal texts chronicling the development of Tallahassee and its environs. The Texas native grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas and trained as a journalist at the University of Missouri. His career in journalism included stints with Little Rock's Arkansas Gazette, the Associated Press and the Jacksonville Times-Union.