Inducted into MDDC’s Hall of Fame in 2014. This article is based on information submitted at the time.

We are writing to nominate Denise Riley, editor emeritus of The Star- Democrat and longtime editor of The Star Democrat and executive editor of Chesapeake Publishing’s Mid-Shore newspapers, for the MDDC Hall of Fame.

Denise joined the staff of The Star Democrat as news editor in May 1973 and was named editor of the newspaper in 1982, becoming the first woman to hold that post at The Star Democrat.

In 1986-87, she was the first woman to win the John Hay Whitney Fellowship, taking her to Paris to work on the copy desk of the International Herald Tribune for nearly a year.

Under her leadership, The Star Democrat launched The Sunday Star in October 1988 and the newspaper’s Web edition.

In 2006, she was named the Talbot County Businesswoman of the Year and in 2007 was named one of the Top 100 Women in Maryland by the Daily Record.

During her lengthy career, Denise has trained and been a mentor to numerous reporters, editors and photographers who are now working at many of t:he nation’s largest newspapers.

She was named editor emeritus of The Star Democrat in 2011.

David Fike.

Publisher, The Star Democrat