Boyd, who once chronicled the ins and outs of cattle smuggling and shrimp boats for a small paper deep in Louisiana's Cajun country, rose quickly in Washington to become bureau chief.
During his 20 years at the helm of the Knight Ridder bureau, Boyd presided over an expansion in which the D.C. team grew from a staff of seven to more than 50.
"He was the antithesis of the sort of ego-driven Washington bureau chief who stepped all over his reporters," says James McCartney, a 25-year Knight Ridder veteran columnist and reporter who worked under Boyd. "He was the best editor I ever had."
According to McCartney, Boyd's linguistic gift as a political storyteller was closely connected to his "low key" nature.
"The hallmark of Bob Boyd's writing," McCartney says, "is that he can explain in simple and understandable language very un-understandable things."
Boyd's understated style--McCartney remembers one day walking into his own office to find the bureau chief vacuuming it--never compromised the tenacity of his reporting, according to his colleagues and competitors. Washington Post reporter David Broder says his colleague brings tremendous energy to his work.
"He's exactly the same age he was when he graduated," Broder says. "He has as much or more enthusiasm for reporting than anyone I've ever met."
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