Keith Leighty served as the Washington Square News’ editorial adviser over the last several years, working with generations of editors to improve and maintain WSN’s quality. An editor at The New York Times since joining as a copy editor in 1999, he most recently served as the BizDay night editor, before his passing on Sunday, Nov. 17. Leighty worked tirelessly to help the editorial staff of WSN year after year, providing insightful critiques of articles as well as helping to teach the editorial team essential writing and editing skills. Leighty is survived by his wife Susan and his two sons, Keith Jr. and Joseph. His dedication to WSN will continue to have an impact on the staff and WSN as a whole.

A number of WSN alumni, in dedication to Keith Leighty, have offered their thoughts on his contributions to their lives and the work of WSN.

“Week after week, Keigh Leighty walked into WSN’s newsroom wearing an old-school fedora, cut through the pack of frenzied students and by calm example taught us how to channel our passion for journalism into steady-handed competency. I’ll never forget calling him around midnight to discuss a tricky story. He had just gotten home from The Times and was feeding his fish. He talked me through the story and told me it would be fine, and because he said it, of course it was. We are all better for knowing Keith Leighty. We will all miss him.” — Adam Playford

It was the first time he walked through the WSN newsroom. He wore a fedora cap; he grabbed a hard copy of the paper; and he strutted through a room full of baby-faced editors wearing skinny jeans. It was an imperfect newspaper — a paper filled with topics of little interest to him — but Keith read each word. In a critique on a story about the TV show, ‘The Office,’ he wrote: ‘There must be an inside joke in the headline, which is lost on non-office viewers like me.’

“Before that semester started, Keith and I talked about my philosophy in running the paper. I told him I was a big picture guy — that I wanted to change the culture at the paper. And he said, ‘Well, we might have a problem. I’m a details guy.’

We never had any problems. Turns out the details that concerned him were diligent reporting, straightforward writing and where to get a drink after work. In our last correspondence, I asked him for a recommendation, and he obliged — then added, ‘I get off work between 10:30 and 11:30 depending on news flow. And I frequently head for Peter McManus pub, 7th Ave. and 19th Street, after work. Let me know if that works for you some night. Short notice is no problem.’

I took a raincheck, because I’m a big picture guy, and I figured there’d always another time to grab a drink with a mentor.” — Alvin Chang

“Keith Leighty was not a selfish learner. He shared what he knew — whether it was in a WSN critique, out on the softball field or over brunch with a colleague, Keith was happiest giving what he could to others. Our 2012 managing team benefitted from this generous nature when Keith stepped up to the plate, fighting his own battle silently while helping us overcome our own as an anxious and excited but inexperienced new group. Keith taught us more than just how to fix a headline and perfect a lede. He showed us what it means to be humble. We were lucky to have him as part of our WSN team.” — Amanda Randone

“The few precious times I’ve interacted with Keith, whether it was bombarding him with questions or trailing him on a tour through the Times building, I was always puzzled at the pure number of hours he lavished on me and the team. Unlike many of my mentors, he never rushed, never said “last question, please,” and never cut our meetings short. I’ll miss him for those few moments when his big heart touched me.” — Amy Zhang

“Keith was a remarkable mentor and friend. Keith always brought an excitement into the newsroom and prodded our team of reporters, editors, photographers and designers to be better, to work more cohesively and ask better questions. I remember one of his first critiques when I started as editor-in-chief was of a piece I wrote. He said it was exactly the place to start.” — Eric Platt

“I had the pleasure of getting to know Keith while at WSN. “Keith was a stabilizing presence for many of the people who worked there. He was always willing to help, and he genuinely wanted us to succeed. Perhaps the most telling way he showed this was that he managed to find time to comb through each one of our issues and give us detailed notes. I found one comment — in response to a somewhat benign sentence in a restaurant review about spicy foods and water — that I thought not only captured the level of attention he paid to our work but his sense of humor.

‘…one note on the spicy food kicker: Spices are oil based. Water doesn’t cut the heat because water doesn’t mix with oil. A beer, on the other hand, has alcohol, which does cut it. But far be it from me to encourage college students to drink more alcohol.’

Thank you, Keith.” — Jaywon Choe

“What struck me most about Keith was his dedication to his work. In his assignments at The New York Times, issue critiques for WSN and his role as umpire for Little League baseball, Keith approached all of his work with a sense of love and enthusiasm that I have rarely seen elsewhere. His work with WSN has helped mold a group of talented and driven young journalists. Keith’s energy, kindness and expertise were gifts to all of us at WSN that allowed us to grow in our roles as journalists.” — Jonathon Dornbush

“Working with and learning from Keith Leighty is one of the greatest privileges I had during my time at WSN. Keith’s presence was felt across the entire staff, whether it was during a late-night phone call to advise us through a tough story, during his infamous and incredibly helpful lessons on grammar and style, or simply through his critiques and encouragement while he reviewed our issues. Keith was as passionate about making our newspaper the best it could be as we were. His passion, encouragement and dedication was deeply felt across the entire staff and will be deeply missed, and I am so grateful for the time Keith spent with us.” — Kelsey Desiderio

Although I only knew Keith as WSN’s advisor, as a man who would beam in from the real world to critique our paper with insight and amazing precision, I was always struck by his kindness and generosity.  Here was a true veteran taking time out of an impossibly busy schedule to give our work the kind of attention it needed, and probably would’ve never gotten otherwise. To hear him praise a layout or an individual article was always a real satisfaction. It meant success by the standards of a world to which we could only aspire. He really looked out for us, made us feel like we had at least one friend in high places. He will be missed. — Matt Margini

“I revered Keith. When I was just a writer at the paper, seeing him in the newsroom or attending one of his writing workshops was like being in the presence of the celebrity. We were a bunch of wannabe-journalist kids, and that an editor from the Times would deign to even talk to us felt incredibly special.

Even later, when I was the managing editor and talked to Keith regularly and turned to him as an adviser for the paper’s decisions, these feelings didn’t fade. When Keith brought Rachel (our editor-in-chief) and me into the Times to spend the day with him, as was his custom with incoming editors, I marveled as he showed us his editing process. His fingers moved so swiftly but still his brain was 30 seconds ahead; he cleaned up stories to perfection in minutes. He was the most talented editor I had ever seen, and it was inspiring to watch him.

But to me, more important than that, was how he made me feel as if I were a talented, accomplished person. Better than my memory of the day at the Times is my memory of one particularly gnarly late night at WSN when Keith stopped by to help us with our close. I was having a midnight snack of edamame, and Keith came to my desk and sat down and shared them with me. I was a nerdy kid, geeking out about how my hero was sharing my dinner — being with Keith never did stop feeling like I was a middle schooler who’d just met my favorite band. But also Keith made me feel like a ‘real’ journalist, one who was capable of having a thoughtful conversation about the industry and about the decisions of a daily newspaper.

How sad that future WSN staffers will never know what it feels like to work with Keith. He played such an important role in giving me the confidence to know that I was talented and smart and worthy of all my journalism dreams, and for that I am endlessly grateful. Thanks, Keith.” — Mary Jane Weedman

“Every day I looked forward to getting an email from Keith — knowing which adjective could have been better used or if the lede of a story could have been clearer. Keith was a great journalist who loved passing down to WSN what he had learned. He will be missed.” — Richa Naik

“Keith helped us, challenged us and made us all better at what we do. But what I’ll remember most is the energy he would bring to the newsroom whenever he came by. We looked forward to his visits, and he overwhelmed us with his humor, kindness and brilliant advice.” — Russell Steinberg