News Tribune business columnist has died after an illness

Longtime Puget Sound-area journalist Bill Virgin has died.

He was 64.

Over the course of his career, Virgin wrote for multiple outlets across Washington, including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The News Tribune.

At the time of his death Dec. 15, he served as editor and publisher of Washington Manufacturing Alert and Pacific Northwest Rail News. Since 2009, he also wrote a weekly business column for The News Tribune, which spanned topics from the fate of Boeing to advice for recent college graduates.

Virgin also jointly owned the Page 2 Books bookstore in Burien with his wife of 24 years, Jenny Cole. The couple have two daughters, Sedalia Cole and Riley Cole.

“He was just so intelligent and nice,” Cole told The News Tribune. “He was great at talking to people.”

Adam Lynn, local news editor at The News Tribune, said he would miss editing Virgin’s work.

“His columns were always well reasoned and well written, even when I didn’t agree with them,” Lynn said. “He was a true professional.”

Virgin died of complications of pneumonia not related to COVID-19, Cole said.

No public memorial has been planned because of pandemic restrictions.