Saying goodbye to a longtime Gateway employee

In the midst of The Peninsula Gateway moving offices in the summer of 2014, one of my jobs was unpacking some boxes which contained many plaques and framed award letters this fine newspaper has earned over its lifetime.

One constant name kept showing up as I was sorting through all the engraved plaques: Jim Appelgate.

Appelgate, a longtime page designer and marketing director for the Peninsula Gateway, died on Saturday from cancer.

Jim played a major role in nearly every Gateway print edition, special section, marketing booklet or promotional guide the company put out over the years — quite an impressive collection of work.

Beginning earlier this year, Jim split his time between the Gateway/Puyallup Herald and The News Tribune, designing pages for the dailies as well as the weeklies. He had been off on medical leave for the past several months.

Jim started with the Gateway in 1995 and served over the years as production/marketing manager, advertising manager, page designer and special sections coordinator. He was always willing to help out wherever he was needed.

He was a talented designer, turned out an astounding number of pages and cared deeply about the Gig Harbor community. He also cared a great deal about The Gateway and how it looked every week. His byline might not have graced the pages, but his imprint was all over them. Jim also had a gift for helping new reporters brainstorm headlines or tweak their stories if he saw something that would make the final product better.

Jim also never turned away a project that entailed working with members of the community or local nonprofits. He was someone who could help interpret what people were talking about visually even if they didn’t quite know what they were looking for.

He loved his family most of all.

Sometimes in the day-to-day grind, it can be a difficult task getting to know your coworkers beyond just their job duties and the projects they are working on. Over the nearly two years Jim and I worked together, I got to know him quite a bit toward the end.

I remember him walking into my office on the day his grandson was born, sporting one of the biggest smiles that I’d ever seen on him. And you could hear the excitement in his voice weeks later after he came back to work and talked about holding his grandson in his arms.

Jim will be missed.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Saying goodbye to a longtime Gateway employee."