Karen Timmons, 58; Editor Planned Scripps Coverage

Karen Timmons, 58, who had been managing editor of Scripps Howard News Service in Washington since 2002, died of ovarian cancer Oct. 17 at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore.

As managing editor, Ms. Timmons helped plan national and international news coverage, developed new magazines for the cable networks HGTV and the Food Network and launched special sections for newspapers, Web sites and other news products.

Scripps Howard, which she joined in 1995, said her recent responsibilities included leading an investigative reporting team that uncovered stories on sudden infant death syndrome. She also was the founding editor of the news service's Scripps-McClatchy Western Service, a wire service for newspapers in the western United States.

She was also known at Scripps Howard for overseeing an annual office chair race in which she gave every participant a ribbon.

Ms. Timmons was born in Akron, Ohio, and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio. She was a journalism graduate of Ohio State University and worked as a reporter in Okinawa, Japan, and Richmond.

She started her own news service in the Virginia capital and edited newsletters and directories on alternative fuels before taking editing jobs at the United Press International wire service and the Washington Times.

As Karen Richardson, she was a co-editor of "Loudoun Harvest," a 1973 book of stories and photographs from the county.

She spent the past several years in Burkittsville in Frederick County and for a decade was owner and operator of Burkitthall Antiques in Frederick.

Her marriages to David P. Richardson and Don Rypka ended in divorce.

Ten months ago, she married her companion of 13 years, William T. Clipper of Burkittsville.

Besides her husband, survivors include a son from her second marriage, Michael Rypka of Austin; two stepsons, William W. Clipper of Asheville, N.C., and Robert Clipper of Falls Church; her father, John M. Timmons of Zanesville, Ohio; two sisters, Jan Mercer of Zanesville and Becky Tobey of Richmond; and a brother, John M. Timmons of Zanesville.

-- Adam Bernstein