Deborah Howell (January 15, 1941 – January 2, 2010) was a long-time newswoman and editor who served for three years as the ombudsman for The Washington Post. Howell is a Board Member In Memoriam at the IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation). Biography Howell was born in San Antonio, Texas, where her father worked as a journalist at the San Antonio Express-News and was a well-known broadcaster and meteorologist at WOAI Radio and TV. Howell entered journalism by working on her high school paper and then, as a journalism student, on The Daily Texan, the student newspaper for The University of Texas at Austin. After graduation, Howell had difficulty finding a job other than on old-time women's pages and instead took a job at a local TV and radio station. Later, she was hired to work on the copy desk of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, before moving to the Minneapolis Star as a reporter, then city editor and assistant managing editor. She was hired at the St. Paul Pioneer Press as senior vice president and editor before becoming the Washington bureau chief and editor of Newhouse News Service from 1990 until 2005. Howell served on the board of directors of the American Society of Newspaper Editors from 1992 to 1999 and on the ASNE Foundation Board from 2000 until her death. She was a member of the board of the International Women's Media Foundation and the National Press Foundation. On January 2, 2010, Howell died after being struck by a car while she was vacationing in New Zealand. She had stopped to take a photo near Blenheim, and may have looked the wrong way for other vehicles. Washington Post career On February 25, 2005, Howell was named ombudsman of the Washington Post. On October 23, 2005, Howell introduced herself to readers by saying she had two goals in mind: "to foster good journalism and to increase understanding between the Post and its readers." Her farewell column appeared on December 28, 2008. Andrew Alexander took over as the Post ombudsman on February 2, 2009. Abramoff column controversy In January 2006, Howell became involved in a dispute with some of her readers over the contents of one of her columns. In her January 15 column defending the reporting by Washington Post reporter Susan Schmidt on lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Howell claimed that Abramoff "had made substantial campaign contributions to both major parties," referring to