William H. Hornby

William H. Hornby was a former editor of The Denver Post, where he worked for more than four decades in roles including copy reader, editorial writer, managing editor, executive editor, and senior editor. He served as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) from 1979 to 1980 and chaired ASNE’s Freedom of Information Committee from 1973 to 1975.

During the 1974 debate over amendments to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Hornby worked with Ed Murray to advocate for stronger transparency laws and supported the successful effort to override President Gerald Ford’s veto. As part of that campaign, he helped organize editorials and news coverage in more than 50 newspapers nationwide, many of which were displayed in congressional committee rooms.

Hornby earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford University and pursued additional graduate studies at the London School of Economics. He served in the Army Signal Corps during World War II and worked for the Marshall Plan and Stars and Stripes before beginning his journalism career. In 1972, he traveled to China with the first group of American journalists to visit the country following President Nixon’s meeting with Mao Zedong, and his reporting appeared in more than 50 U.S. newspapers. He served on the boards of several civic and historical organizations, including as board chairman of History Colorado and as a trustee of the Colorado Historical Foundation. He was a longtime member and past president of Denver Rotary.

Hornby died in 2014 in Denver, Colorado.

(Updated April 2025)