John E. ‘Jeb’ Byrne
federal register director
John E. “Jeb” Byrne, 86, who retired in 1988 as director of the Office of the Federal Register, which produces a comprehensive daily listing of ever-changing federal regulations and executive orders, died Nov. 17 at his home in Alexandria. He had Parkinson’s disease.
The death was confirmed by his son John P. Byrne.
After an early journalism career, Mr. Byrne worked as press secretary to Maine’s governor before settling in the Washington area in 1961. He was information director for the General Services Administration until 1969 and periodically was lent to the White House for logistical advance work for trips taken by presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
In the 1970s, Mr. Byrne served as information director at the National Archives and Records Administration and as assistant to the archivist of the United States. In 1980, Mr. Byrne was named director of the Office of the Federal Register, which is part of the National Archives.
John Edward Byrne was born in the Bronx, N.Y., and raised in Larchmont, N.Y. He was an Army Air Forces veteran of World War II.
He was a 1949 journalism graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee. He received a master’s degree in American literature in 1973 and a doctorate in American civilization in 1987, both from George Washington University.
Early in his career, he worked for what became the United Press International wire service. He was based in Maine for UPI when he was tapped in the late 1950s as press secretary to Maine Gov. Clinton A. Clauson (D). The governor died in office in 1959, and Mr. Byrne continued working for the state government before moving to the Washington area as a Kennedy administration appointee.
In retirement, he won a Fulbright research award to study the development of press associations in New Zealand compared with those in the United States.
His memberships included Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Alexandria and the American Journalism Historians Association.
He was a board member and past president of Friends of Dyke Marsh, the National Park Service wildlife preserve in the Potomac River south of Alexandria. He appeared in a 2006 documentary about Dyke Marsh, “On the Edge.”
He wrote of his work as a presidential “advance man” in his 2010 book, “Out in Front: Preparing the Way for JFK and LBJ.”
Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Beverly McKinley Byrne of Alexandria; four sons, Peter J. Byrne of Petaluma, Calif., Michael T. Byrne of Richmond and David F. Byrne and John P. Byrne, both of Alexandria; two brothers; and five grandchildren.
— Adam Bernstein
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