Longtime RJ features editor Frank Fertado dies

When members of the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s features staff were recognized in last month’s Nevada Press Association awards, they soon received email from their former features editor.

“I have to admit I take some pride in having assembled such a talented features staff and any time one of you receives recognition I can’t help but feel good,” Frank Fertado wrote to entertainment writer Chris Lawrence.

Fertado, the newspaper’s 33-year features editor, died Saturday following complications of a pulmonary embolism. He was 65.

During Fertado’s tenure at the Review-Journal, he greatly expanded the newspaper’s features and entertainment coverage. His most popular and enduring contributions were the launch of the annual Best of Las Vegas readers poll and Friday’s entertainment section, Neon, as a pullout magazine format.

“It’s so hard to believe that someone as full of life as Frank Fertado is gone. We were friends and colleagues at the newspaper for 30 years. He was a talented journalist and manager,” said Charlie Zobell, the Review-Journal’s former managing editor, now director of digital media for KSNV-TV, Channel 3.

“Frank created the Best of Las Vegas and kept improving the annual publication until he left the paper. He redesigned and restructured the weekly Neon magazine and helped us launch the neighborhood Views and R-Jeneration, the teen news team. He was a constant advocate for entertainment news and relevant lifestyle features,” Zobell said. “I will miss his laugh, his cheerfulness, his friendship.”

Fertado formed many close bonds with his fellow employees, valued his people and never held a grudge, according to his co-workers.

“I spent five years working with Frank in the features department, but I spent the past 25 years learning from him — not so much about work but about what friendship is and why it is so important to be a friend,” said longtime Review-Journal employee Joe Hawk.

“In my 58 years on this planet, I’ve never met anyone with a purer heart or more decency and compassion as Frank had for those around him.”

Assistant Features Editor Lindsey Collins echoed Hawk’s sentiment.

“Frank was more than a boss, he was my friend. He built our department and created a little family,” Collins said. “He was always quick with a joke, ready to laugh, a big personality. He was truly larger than life.”

Said Review-Journal Editor Mike Hengel, “It’s a great loss. Frank was a real pro. In addition to building Best of Las Vegas from the ground up, he shaped our entertainment and features coverage over several decades​ into something special. His influence continues to be reflected in the R-J today and will be well into the future.”

Fertado grew up in Antioch, Calif., and attended Antioch High School before studying journalism at Diablo Valley College and San Jose State University, where he served as editor and managing editor of the Spartan Daily student newspaper.

He spent five years in Pittsburg, Calif., covering education for the Pittsburg Post-Dispatch. In December 1978, he became the city editor for the Ontario Daily Report in Ontario, Calif.

In March 1981, Fertado joined the Review-Journal as an associate editor. The newspaper had taken baby steps to move beyond its limited entertainment coverage by a single columnist (the late Forrest Duke) and press releases provided by the hotels, and tapped Fertado as the person to continue the progress.

Within a year he had the banner title of features editor, overseeing separate editors for the Living section, Wednesday food section, Friday entertainment, Sunday TV guide and, for a time, the Nevadan magazine on Sundays.

The Friday entertainment section, then called Onstage, had accelerated its evolution with more staff-written interviews and profiles. In 1984, he invited Carol Cling to move from the city desk to features, continuing to write the movie reviews she had started as a sideline to various city desk beats.

In 1997, the broadsheet Friday entertainment section called Weekend transformed into Neon, which became the current pullout, inclusive magazine format.

Over the years, Fertado introduced feature sections that responded to a growing and changing Las Vegas. The Wednesday food and recipe section became Taste, acknowledging the city’s transformation into a fine-dining destination with an emphasis on restaurants and dining trends.

In 2000, Fertado succeeded in a longtime goal of introducing legitimate restaurant reviews, with Heidi Knapp Rinella basing her reviews on anonymous, unannounced visits and meals paid for by the Review-Journal. And in 2005, Christopher Lawrence became the newspaper’s first TV columnist.

In 2004, he introduced the magazine-formatted fashion section called Image, which continued for several years. He also oversaw the evolution of Monday’s features section into a dedicated Health & Fitness section.

But Fertado’s most enduring legacy might be the Best of Las Vegas, the popular readers poll that marked its 32nd edition this year.

The first one in February 1982 was a single-page, whimsical readers poll with 50 categories, which evolved into an annual special section with more than 200 categories in dining, shopping and entertainment. This year Best of Las Vegas launched a quarterly magazine and ongoing website to complement its popular annual awards issue.

“It was lifted from other publications,” Fertado noted in the 25th anniversary edition of the annual poll. But instead of focusing on staff picks as he had seen in city magazines elsewhere, Fertado thought it would be better to ask readers to offer their suggestions.

“All of a sudden it became this huge deal,” he noted in 2006. “Everyone wanted to be Best of Las Vegas.”

Fertado also was active for many years in the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, now known as the Society for Features Journalism. He played a key role when the organization’s annual convention took place in Las Vegas in the early 2000s.

Fertado retired in September 2012 after newsroom reorganization consolidated the positions of features and sports editor.

Outside of the office, Fertado was a Broadway enthusiast who enjoyed his twice-a-year trips to New York to check out the new Broadway season. He was also an avid trader of collectibles and pottery.

Fertado is survived by his mother, Angie Fertado; sister Barbara Pantell and her husband, Mark Pantell; niece Melanie Bray and her husband, Kyle Bray; nephew Tyler Pantell and his wife, Kelly Pantell; and great-niece Olivia Bray.

Services will be held in California. The family asks donations be made to the American Diabetes Association.

Contact Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.