Alan Dean Moyer’s last at-bat was Aug. 10, 2023, at Atria Campana del Rio in Tucson, Ariz., after a year of declining health accompanied by Alzheimer’s disease. Alan was born on Sept. 4, 1928, on the family farm near Galva, Iowa.

He grew up in New Jersey, graduating from Tenafly High School in 1946. In September of 1946, Alan began college at Pittsburg State Teacher’s College in Kansas. The following fall, he transferred to the University of Iowa, where he served as sports editor of the student paper, The Daily Iowan, and graduated with a B.S. in Journalism in 1950. On July 15, 1950, Alan married Patricia Krecker in Madison, Wisc.

In 1950, Alan started his long career in professional journalism when he took a post as reporter and copy editor for the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison. Following that, he joined the Bartlesville, Oklahoma Examiner-Enterprise as a reporter and photographer, then the Abilene, Texas Reporter-News as telegraph editor and city editor. From 1955-1963 he served as makeup editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and from 1963-1973 he worked for the Wichita (Kansas) Eagle and Beacon, rising to the position of executive editor. Alan moved to Phoenix in 1973 to take the job of managing editor of the Phoenix Gazette. In 1982, he assumed managing editor responsibilities for the Arizona Republic, where he remained until his retirement in 1988.

Alan treasured his relationships with employees and colleagues. He was a member of the Society of Professional Journalists as well as the Associated Press Managing Editors Association (APME), where he served a term on the APME Board of Directors. He also served as a Pulitzer juror, served on the boards of the Wichita Chamber of Commerce, the Wichita Community Theater, and Wichita Baseball, Inc. and from 1973-1986 held a seat as a member of the Fiesta Bowl committee.

Alan was a fan of baseball at all levels. He led a group of investors to bring minor league baseball back to Wichita (the Triple-A Aeros), spent countless hours hitting baseballs and pitching batting practice with his sons Stan and Glenn, as well as his informal group of retired professional and recreational ballplayers, “The Sunday Hitters”, and he had a clause in his contracts that he got time off whenever the St. Louis Cardinals were in the World Series.

Alan was preceded in death by his parents, Clifford and Harriet Moyer, and survived by his brother Richard and wife Dianna, his wife Patricia (Pat), their daughter Virginia (Jim Tucker), their sons Stanley and Glenn (Johanna), grandchildren John, David, Leigh, Geoffrey, Ezra, and Asa, and great-grandchildren Tyla, Madeline, Isla, and Zoe.

Alan and Pat were married more than 73 years. In 1994, they started taking four-mile walks together, and by 2019, they had walked 30,828 miles. He had a keen interest in everyone he met, most especially fellow Iowa grads. His warm sense of humor and unfailing courtesy will live on in all who knew and loved him.