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This is a story about a 43-year friendship surviving amid turbulent times.
After a dozen years at the helm, Rick Hirsch retired as Miami Herald managing editor in December 2021, but he did not relinquish his concern for a talented former colleague: Edna Buchanan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and multi-book author.
Decades ago, when Hirsch was a reporter, his newsroom desk was behind that of the woman he today calls "a legend."
Buchanan's deteriorating health has gone unreported until now. The 85-year-old writer is in a nursing home in Homestead with "suspected dementia" and cognitive, mood and psychotic disorders.
Hirsch said the crime reporter, who injured herself in a fall at her longtime Miami Beach home, is "comfortable and well-cared for" at The Palace Gardens alongside her dog, Hairy P. Whodini. Hirsch, a journalist in residence at Florida International University, has known Buchanan since 1980. He filed a petition in Miami-Dade Family Court last year that led to a court-appointed guardian taking charge of her care and settling her finances.
"There is a reason she is where she is and that is in relation to her physical and mental health," Hirsch said in a phone interview. "It has certainly gotten much worse since this whole saga started."
A tale of enduring friendship: dementia and Miami's true-crime reporting queen Edna Buchanan
After a dozen years at the helm, Rick Hirsch retired as Miami Herald managing editor in December 2021, but he did not relinquish his concern for a talented former colleague: Edna Buchanan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and multi-book author.
Decades ago, when Hirsch was a reporter, his newsroom desk was behind that of the woman he today calls "a legend."
Buchanan's deteriorating health has gone unreported until now. The 85-year-old writer is in a nursing home in Homestead with "suspected dementia" and cognitive, mood and psychotic disorders.
Hirsch said the crime reporter, who injured herself in a fall at her longtime Miami Beach home, is "comfortable and well-cared for" at The Palace Gardens alongside her dog, Hairy P. Whodini. Hirsch, a journalist in residence at Florida International University, has known Buchanan since 1980. He filed a petition in Miami-Dade Family Court last year that led to a court-appointed guardian taking charge of her care and settling her finances.
"There is a reason she is where she is and that is in relation to her physical and mental health," Hirsch said in a phone interview. "It has certainly gotten much worse since this whole saga started."
A tale of enduring friendship: dementia and Miami's true-crime reporting queen Edna Buchanan
