After a long and distinguished career in journalism that included serving as the editor of USA Today, John Quinn died Tuesday in Rhode Island., reports Florida Today, which added that Quinn’s health “had been failing for some time before he returned to the hospital Monday, according to those close to him and his family. He died among family Tuesday afternoon.

“Along with being the editor of USA Today, Quinn was also the president of the Gannett News Service and later the vice president of news at Gannett Co Inc. before retiring in 1990. He also served as a former deputy chairman of the Freedom Forum.

“USA Today was founded in 1982 by Al Neuharth.

“Quinn, who was born in 1925, began his career in journalism as a copy boy at The Providence Journal Bulletin, where he worked for 23 years, according to the Newseum Institute. He leaves behind a legacy that includes the Chips Quinn Scholars Program for Diversity in Journalism, a scholarship named for his son, John “Chips” Quinn Jr., who was a newspaper editor in upstate New York when he died in an automobile accident.”

Quinn lived for many decades in Cocoa Beach, Fl.