Dolan Quits as Herald Examiner Editor : Departure Leaves Newspaper With Two Key Positions Vacant

Mary Anne Dolan resigned Friday as editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner effective next Thursday.

Hearst Corp., which owns the paper, said it had no replacement immediately in mind, and “it will be some time before any decision on a replacement is made,” said John J. McCabe, Herald general manager.

Dolan, 38, will become a weekly columnist for the 237,424-circulation morning paper and a commentator and consultant for ABC News. She said she also hopes to write a book.

‘Real Success’

“I have been editor close to four years,” Dolan said in a long, personal memo to her staff, “and in that time, we have grown from a laughable sports streak into a credible, journalistically successful major paper, with a still-terrific sports department. . . .

“For you, (the) future includes, in my view, the possibility of finally breaking out and experiencing the joy of real success.”

Dolan’s resignation leaves the paper without either a publisher or editor. Francis L. Dale, who had been the Herald publisher since 1977, resigned last March to become commissioner of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Dolan noted that the Herald, which has sustained a circulation loss of 48,340 in the last four years, has hired the consulting firm of Booz, Allen & Hamilton and newspaper consultant Ruth Clark to conduct a “research and review” of the Herald’s business and marketing plan.

“I would have liked to see (the review) seven years ago, when I started” at the Herald, Dolan wrote the staff. “But we are learning things, which will help steer our course.”

McCabe said that as a result of the review, the Herald might change its format, look or direction, “but it is too soon to tell.”

Dolan, who joined the Herald Examiner seven years ago as assistant managing editor for features and entertainment, received wide publicity for being the first woman editor of a major daily newspaper when she succeeded James G. Bellows as editor of the Herald in November, 1981.

Before joining the Herald, she was assistant managing editor of the Washington Star.

McCabe said Herald Managing Editor John P. Lindsey and Executive Editor Stanley Cloud will run the paper while the company looks for a new editor. McCabe has acted as chief operating officer of the Herald for both the news and business sides since Dale’s departure.