Terry Harper | Led journalist group, 45

Terry Harper, 45, executive director of the Society of Professional Journalists, died Tuesday after a two-year battle with brain cancer.

He had served as SPJ's executive director for seven years and was credited with pushing the organization to enhance professional development training programs at the local level. He also was executive director of the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, the SPJ's educational arm.

A native of Yukon, Okla., where he delivered newspapers as a boy, Mr. Harper was a 1986 graduate of Oklahoma State University. - AP