Rick Thames was executive editor of the Charlotte Observer and its website, CharlotteObserver.com. He had worked in newspapers for over 30 years. Thames began as a reporter at the Fayetteville Observer and later worked as a reporter and local news editor at the Miami News before joining the Charlotte Observer in 1989. In 1997, he became editor of the Wichita Eagle but returned to Charlotte in 2004 as the Observer ’s editor.

Thames was past president of the North Carolina Press Association, a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and a member of the board of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition.