Eulogy

By Howard Chua-Eoan, Assistant Managing Editor

She had this smirk, this "I know something you don't" smile, pure catnip for journalists. And so there was always a gaggle of us around MARTA DORION, waiting for some tidbit to waft through her smoke-filled office, a last refuge for cigarette lovers here at TIME. Many who hated tobacco would suffer through nicotine haze just to listen. She'd been through Watergate, earthquakes and O.J., but those weren't the stories we were really interested in. It was the one she was living, the one we shared: the story of Time Inc. Marta's breadth of memory and experience at the company encompassed names and events that are history and legend--and she could tell the difference. As a former boss once said in awe, "Marta knows where the skeletons are hidden." It was no accident that she was asked to help compile the corporate history. If young colleagues were mystified at the ways of TIME, Marta would sit them down and explain it all--instilling wonder at the enchanted realm they had wandered into. For she knew where the maps were too, and how to read them. No one could imagine her retired, which she insisted she was just months ago. She lived and breathed Time Inc. and gave it life and breath. Her sudden passing deprives us not only of a dear friend but also of living memory.

--Howard Chua-Eoan, Assistant Managing Editor