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Virginia Quarterly Review managing editor commits suicide

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Kevin Morrissey, the 52-year-old managing editor of the literary journal the Virginia Quarterly Review, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Friday, the Virginia medical examiner’s office confirmed Monday. Morrissey lived in Charlottesville, Va.

In a post on his Charlottesville-focused blog, Waldo Jaquith remembered Morrissey as his ‘friend and boss.’ Jaquith continued:

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He left his apartment, walked down Water Street and called the police to report a shooting at the coal tower, a shooting that actually came shortly thereafter. A lifetime of grappling with depression combined with recent stresses proved too much for him. He was the managing editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review at the University of Virginia since 2003. Kevin was dogged at his work, meticulous in his detail, and one of the finest human beings I’ve had the privilege to know.

The Virginia Quarterly Review, one of the nation’s leading literary journals, has been at the forefront of discussions about how such journals can stay both relevant and fiscally secure in difficult times.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

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