By Brett Milam

The Clermont Sun

ince I arrived at The Clermont Sun in January 2017, I’ve wanted to tell the story of Tony Adams.

I wish I wasn’t telling it now, in the wake of Tony leaving us on Aug. 26 for another job in the county, but life has a way of forcing our hand.

Boss, publisher, silver fox, friend — this is the abridged story of Tony Adams.

Beginning under the previous owner, Bill Latham, Tony has worked at The Sun for most of his life, nearly 40-some years. Latham owned The Sun beginning in 1971, with our sister paper, The Brown County Press, being created in Mt. Orab two years later. He owned the papers until selling them to Champion Media in 2015. Two years later, he passed away.

Tony started at the age of 18 working in the back as night shift camera operator and on printing plates. He moved up to sales and then became the CEO of The Sun.

That trajectory is what’s always fascinated me from a reporter’s lens. But Tony never wanted to make the story about himself, as odd as that may seem to the rest of us.

I’m still not entirely sure what his official title became once Latham sold the paper in 2015. Aside from publisher, perhaps other “p” words are befitting, like provocateur, prankster and, as our longtime graphics ladies may attest to, pain-in-the …

In any event, while Tony’s hair may have grayed over the years, he still retains the same smirk as seen in the above Thanksgiving photo from 1988.

But that smirk, that sneeze, which reverberated throughout the office resembling a bear and singing only Simon Cowell could properly lambaste, belies the hard-working and genuine man behind the bravado and ostentatious personality.

Whatever his title, Tony was a man of many hats. He oversaw a multitude of printing jobs, often working alongside the people in the back to make sure they would get done and even delivered the newspapers when staffing was shorthanded.

If I had to guess, I think his favorite role was getting on the forklift and swinging it around. I think being in the back, covered in ink and immersed in the sounds of the printing press, appealed to him more than sitting behind a desk answering calls and sending emails.

What made Tony a good “boss” is that he was largely hands off. Myself, our Sports Editor Garth Shanklin and our longtime intrepid reporter Megan Alley have always enjoyed a great deal of autonomy to bring the local news to you.

Tony may have disagreed with us at times and we would listen to his disagreements and then ignore him. It was a great process.

But seriously, Tony loved The Sun. Nearly 40 years of dedication speaks for itself. If only he’d let me speak for it sooner, but I am now.

We got along because we both share the same mindset: Buck the system, ignore the bosses. And despite his protestations to never do a story about him, even as he leaves The Sun behind to less inky pastures, I did anyway.

He’d expect nothing less.

When he did send emails and I did happen to respond, Tony’s line in return would be, “No, thank you.”

Over the years, I stole that line to annoy him. But this time, I mean it genuinely.

No, thank you, Tony.

From the Defender: Without a doubt, I can honestly say that Tony Adams was the best boss I ever worked for. When you look up “genuinely good” in a dictionary, expect to see his picture. In the end, his goodness is really what forced him to go in another direction.

When Tony became my boss a few years ago, I knew we were going to get along just fine because he just let us do our jobs without a bunch of interference which is how I like to work and he really was the only person who made the effort to compliment our work. Everyone appreciates compliments and often Tony would simply tell me, “You’re doing great” or “Your paper looks great.” I wish him absolutely all the best in his newest endeavor.

Of course, Tony and I made an instant connection when I realized that we both spent a good portion of our lives living in Mayberry. I’m certainly going to miss the e-mails that came here from Goober, Otis, The Morrison Sisters, George, The TV Repairman, and many other residents. Working from home now Tony will get to spend far more time in Mayberry than I will and I may be just a bit envious. It’s also sinking in that no longer can I just pick up my phone and “Call the man.”- Mark Carpenter