Philadelphia Columnist Stabbed to Death

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia Daily News columnist known for his hard-hitting commentaries on urban issues was stabbed to death outside a convenience store by a man demanding money, authorities said Sunday.

W. Russell G. Byers, 59, and his wife, Laurada Beacham, had just bought a pint of ice cream at a market near his home in the city’s Chestnut Hill section Saturday night when the suspect yelled “Give it up!”--referring to their wallets, police said.

Byers was stabbed once in the chest after he pushed the robber away from his wife, police said.

The suspect fled empty-handed. Byers was pronounced dead at the scene.

Byers’ colleagues said Sunday that as a columnist, he stood up against urban crime.

“Russell cared more about the future of the city of Philadelphia, and did more to try to influence it in a positive way, than anybody else I know. So this act of violence is also directed at the entire city,” said Zack Stalberg, the paper’s editor.

“Russell was not a journalist first, he was really a citizen of Philadelphia first. He cared about public life and public policy. He worked harder than anyone here,” Stalberg said.

Byers, a Yale graduate, came late in life to journalism. He spent many years in the public sector, working as Philadelphia regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and as an aide to City Councilman Thacher Longstreth.

Those experiences were brought to bear on the urban issues column he wrote two to four times a week for the last 10 years.