ROANOKE, Va. (AP) - Melville “Buster” Carico, a Roanoke Times reporter who rose from the newspaper mailroom to become an award-winning journalist, has died. He was 101.
Carico’s only child, Flip Carico, said his father went into a nursing home with declining health about a month ago, but returned home last week. He died Monday morning.
Carico started his newspaper career by delivering The World-News when he attended Woodrow Wilson Junior High and Jefferson High School. He graduated in 1934, began working as a bundler in the newspaper’s mail room, and became a writer in 1936.
Carico began covering state politics by the 1950s and was honored by the General Assembly when he retired in 1981.
In 1995, Carico was inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame.
Carico’s wife, Anne, died in 1999.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.