Longtime editor R.G. ‘Gene’ Puckett dies at 80

RALEIGH, N.C. — Career journalist and champion for a free Baptist press R.G. “Gene” Puckett died May 12, months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Puckett, 80, worked as a Baptist journalist longer than any person in the 20th century. After pastorates in Kentucky and in Ohio, at age 25 he became editor of the Ohio Baptist Messenger and director…