Journalist Rebecca E. Tucker, 42, was named deputy publisher of Straus News on July 1. She is the niece of the current publisher and the 4th generation family member to help steer a Straus media company.
In the wearing-of-many-hats tradition of independently owned news organizations, Tucker will also continue in her role as editor and publisher of Dirt magazine, as well as reporting for the company’s nine newspapers.
“We’re thrilled that the family tradition at Straus News continues to another generation and know Becca’s immense talents will help lead us in the future,” said Jeanne Straus, president and publisher of Straus News.
“Local news is in my blood – on every side,” said Tucker, who grew up in and out of the newsroom in Westchester County, N.Y., where her parents ran the local paper. Tucker has worked at Straus News since 2008.
Tucker is the great-granddaughter of Nathan Straus, who purchased WMCA Radio in 1943. Her grandfather, Peter Straus, was director of the Voice of America and ran WMCA Radio for 40 years, eventually augmenting his radio stations with weekly newspapers. The late Diane Straus, Tucker’s mother, worked as an editor of the Village Voice and New York Magazine, ran the Patent Trader with Tucker’s father and later served as publisher of the American Prospect and Washington Monthly. Her father, Carll Tucker, was publisher of the Patent Trader and later founded the hyper-local news company the Daily Voice.
After studying English at Yale, Tucker worked as a reporter for the New York Sun, the New York Press and Manhattan Media where she covered various beats: the police desk, education, the waterfront, often jumping on her bike to get to an accident scene before the dust had settled. In 2006 she helped launch New York Family and became its managing editor.
Tucker’s reporting has garnered dozens of awards. She won the prestigious National Education Writers Association Award, and recently won six first place awards in the National Newspaper Association’s 2022 Better Newspaper Contest.
Tucker launched Dirt, a green living magazine covering New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and took it nonprofit in 2023.
Tucker lives with her husband, Joe Gara, and their three children in northeast Pennsylvania, where they grow much of their own food and keep chickens, turkeys and ducks.
An ultimate Frisbee player since college, Tucker played on the first professional women’s team in New York and these days competes with her Hudson Valley-based club team.