Bill Cotterell, the longest-serving reporter covering the Florida Capital, has died.
For 45 years, Bill Cotterell has been a constant presence at the Capital. His journalism has covered 41 legislative sessions and 10 gubernatorial administrations. And through it all, says former Tallahassee Democrat colleague John Nogowski, Cotterell came to exemplify what it meant to be part of the Capital Press Corps.
"He's what you'd call a real newspaperman! If you walked in and took a look around the newsroom, you'd have no trouble picking him out as the guy who covered politics."
Cotterell technically retired from the paper a few years back, but he immediately began cranking our a regular column for the News Service of Florida. His editor there, Jim Saunders, says Cotterell kept on working, even when be became ill after a recent trip abroad.
"Bill was still working as of last week when he was in a rehab facility. He was emailing me from there!"
Bill Cotterell, the self-described "Capital Curmudgeon," was 82.
