Tony Biffle died Tuesday, which probably doesn’t qualify as news in these parts, although his passing is worth noting anywhere the value of newspaper editorials is appreciated.

For 21 years — from 1994 until his retirement in 2015 at age 63 — Tony wrote editorials for The Sun Herald in Biloxi, winning awards along the way, but otherwise laboring in the kind of obscurity common to the job.

Editorial writers are seldom credited for their work, which appears as unsigned editorials as the view not of the person who writes them, but as the newspaper’s official position.

The only story on his death appeared in the newspaper to which he devoted his career. There was no mention of it on local TV channels or in any other newspaper in the state, as far as I can tell.

Tony arrived at The Sun Herald at about the time I was making my exit, but in the two years we shared a newsroom – he in the office held by a long line of stellar editorial writers before him and me in the corner of the newsroom allotted to the sports department – it was easy to see how seriously he viewed his role.

Even in his early 40s, Tony was sort of an office curmudgeon, taking great offense to errors in spelling, grammar and, most notably, Associated Press style.

Perhaps – and this is just a guess – he felt the weight of those who held the position of editorial writer before him, men like Robert McHugh, who had worked with legendary Baltimore Sun opinion writer H.L. Mencken, or Jim Lund, he of the old-school green eye-shades whose encyclopedic knowledge of the people, events and culture of the Coast empowered his editorials with rare authority.

In the story on Tony’s passing, The Sun Herald made note of just one of the thousands of editorials he wrote over two-plus decades – “The Power of Prayer…and Plywood,” a rare front-page editorial written the day before Hurricane Katrina smashed into the Coast.

In many ways, that editorial was illustrative of Tony’s body of work, combining as it did his abilities to tap into readers’ emotions while appealing to the practical realities. It was not enough to stir emotions. There had to be some practical way readers could — and should — turn those emotions into action.

In doing this, and doing it in plain-spoken language, Tony achieved the highest measure of what it means to be an editorial writer.

My last conversation with Tony came as I left The Sun Herald for California in the spring of 1996, so I’ll make no assumptions about how he came to view his work by the time he retired. I do know, at age 63, he had not reached the stage of decay — and certainly not personal wealth — that would have naturally dictated an early retirement.

What I do know is that Tony left the Sun Herald as it began a precipitous decline, a fate common to many, if not most, newspapers, beginning around the turn of the century.

Today, The Sun Herald doesn’t even have an editorial page, an astounding thought given the newspaper’s long, long history of brilliant editorial writing.

I cannot help but wonder if Tony, so committed to his craft, became disillusioned.

It takes a certain amount of ego for anyone to play the role of editorial writer — a belief that you have something important to say and the ability to say it articulately and effectively.

And, sometimes, even when they feel they have achieved that goal, even the best editorial writers must wonder if their work is in vain. Does it really make a difference? With rare exceptions, it is something the editorial writer never really knows.

So, what really, should the death of an editorial writer in Biloxi mean to the rest of us?

It means there is one less voice trying to speak truth to power. One less person trying to capture the spirit of a community. One less voice hoping to make people think. One less person attempting to stir the conscience, inspire an audience to action, sooth the sorrows and celebrate the successes of a community.

Tony Biffle, Vietnam vet and “ink-stained wretch,” died Tuesday.

Whether you realize it or not, that matters.

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].