Anne Ferguson-Rohrer

Oscar and his canine friends lost their patron saint and guardian angel. Over the course of a 58-year life, Anne continually took in bassets and other dogs—the abandoned, the neglected, and the disabled. There was Herschel, who lost both eyes to disease; Tucker found wandering, alone, abandoned, on a snowy January night; and some 26 others whom Anne adopted over the years. She fed them, and nursed them, and loved them, and spoiled them. Anne also gave generously to numerous other causes and charities, and for years delivered food weekly for Meals on Wheels.

Anne was born on November 13, 1961, in the Bronx to James “Barney” Ferguson, a New York City police officer and homicide detective, and Jean Ferguson, an incredibly loving woman who devoted her life to her children and her church. Anne grew up in the Bronx and Pelham Manor, N.Y., and remained extremely close to her childhood friends, including Tina Giulini. Anne was a 1979 graduate of Pelham Memorial High School and attended Syracuse University and Michigan State as a journalism major.

While home from her studies at Michigan State, she met her husband, S. Scott Rohrer, in 1982 at a backyard barbecue in Connecticut. They immediately bonded over baseball and books, arguing over whose favorite team (the Yankees for Anne; the Mets for Scott) was superior. Scott lost that argument—the first of many to come. They moved to North Carolina in 1986 when Scott took a job with The Charlotte Observer. There, they restored an 1853 house in historic Salisbury and married in 1987, honeymooning in St. Croix. Two years later, they received their greatest gift when their son, Josh, was born.

Besides dogs, Anne loved reading and music, and she had a deep interest in current events and a host of liberal causes, from combating climate change to feeding the hungry. Fittingly, she became a journalist. Her first job was as a copy editor in 1985 at the Paterson News in New Jersey, where Scott also worked as editorial page editor and copy desk chief. Anne later worked for the Salisbury Post where she handled the police and fire beat and for the Winston-Salem Journal as copy desk chief. After receiving offers to join the Baltimore Sun and New York Times, Anne in 1998 opted to work as a copy editor at The Washington Post.

It was a decision she never regretted. From the start, she felt at home at The Post and loved both the work and the people. A natural leader, Anne excelled in the various roles she performed. Within six months of her arrival Anne was overseeing the Virginia and Maryland “tabs.” The Post then had Anne run all the copy desks except for sports, and in 2009 she was promoted to multiplatform copy desk chief and in 2012 to night news director, where she was responsible for handling late-breaking news and enforcing deadlines and standards. Along the way, she won The Post’s prestigious Eugene Meyer Award for helping the nation’s leading newspaper transition to a digital operation.

At The Post, Anne became known for her acerbic emails to staff urging writers and editors to meet deadline and for her biting sense of humor. In a tribute to Anne, Executive Editor Martin Baron fittingly said she “reminded me of the characters who used to routinely populate newsrooms—often intimidatingly tough on the exterior, endearingly soft on the interior. She was driven to fulfill our mission.”

Anne is survived by her husband, Scott, a journalist and historian; son, Josh, a social worker in Fairfax County, Va.; daughter-in-law Alexandra Cople, a psychotherapist; four siblings: James B. Ferguson Jr., Karen Ferguson, Andrew Ferguson, and Erin Ferguson Wasserburger; and her legendary basset hound, Oscar, who is renowned for his ability to break into kitchen cabinets and steal food.

Because of the pandemic, the funeral will be private. A funeral mass is planned for Pelham, New York, in September and a memorial service in Arlington, Va., in the fall or spring when conditions allow.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to BROOD—Basset Hound Rescue of Old Dominion, https://brood-va.org/honorofgifts/.