He was known as the father of modern newspaper design.
He helped redesign thousands of newspapers, wrote 27 journalism books and won numerous awards.
But toward the end of his life, Edmund Arnold took simple pleasure in creating birthday cards for his fellow residents of Brandon Oaks Retirement Community.
Arnold died Friday at Lewis-Gale Medical Center. He was 93.
Arnold began his newspaper career at the Frankenmuth News in Michigan, said Steve Grainger, the paper's publisher.
"You could give Ed three words and he'd write three columns," Grainger said. "Ed covered stories his way. He raised eyebrows when he attended village council meetings and took notes. It was a first for Frankenmuth."
Arnold began redesigning newspapers when he landed a job with Linotype News in 1954, said his daughter, Kathleen Loomis.
"Before 1950, newspapers were boring. They were difficult to read, they were not attractive and they did nothing to help readers get the most out of the news," Loomis said. "He advocated for a change of look and new, attractive, functional design. He traveled all over the United States and Canada spreading the message."
Arnold became a professor at Syracuse University in 1960. Seeing a need for a textbook in graphic design, he wrote one, and that book became the standard textbook for introduction to graphic art, Loomis said.
Grainger said that he still has many of the typography books written by Arnold.
"He was nationally known for his newspaper redesigns," he said. "He was sought by newspapers all over the world for his assistance."
Grainger said Arnold won a George Polk Award for his work with redesign.
Arnold became a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1975 and served as a consultant to military journalism groups.
He gave more than 10,000 workshops in newspaper design, Loomis said.
"Relatively young people in the field today don't remember what he did because time has passed," she said. "If you ask anybody who was a layout editor who's 60 or 65, they have all been touched by his contribution personally."
Arnold retired in 1983 and moved to Brandon Oaks in 1993.
But his creative eye never diminished.
Loomis said her father's love for calligraphy and drawing led him to start making birthday cards for fellow residents. He made more than 1,000.
"He would make the cards big enough so that everyone could sign it," Loomis said. "When his eyesight started failing him, he would use a magnifying glass to make the cartoons on the cards."
Becky Locke, who has been a resident at Brandon Oaks for 14 years, said Arnold also became the editor of the Acorn, a newsletter for the retirement community.
"He worked every day on some form of journalism," Locke said. "He was working on a novel at the time of his death."
Locke said Arnold, a devoted Lutheran, faithfully attended Wednesday services at Brandon Oaks and often talked about his family.
"His life exemplified loyalty to church, vocation and family," she said.
Loomis said her father's love of journalism would be his lasting legacy.
"He felt that the news was one of the most important things that held society together," Loomis said. "He felt printing was something special, and that newspapers made communication a broad-based process rather than one-on-one. He was very proud to be a part of that."
