In the editorial staff, the paper’s longtime editor Judith Moore was an American author and essayist best known for her 2005 book "," published by Hudson Street Press. Joining the "Reader" staff in 1983 and subsequently known as “Mother Reader” for many years, she specialized in book reviews (especially food writing) and offbeat, whimsical feature subjects. Once, she visited a San Diego sausage factory and described it in lurid detail, in order to test the cliché that no one wanted to see sausage being made. She mentored dozens of writers still contributing to the paper to this day. Moore died of colon cancer after three years of treatment in May 2006. A memorial feature about Moore written by several staffers ran August 16, 2007, titled She Hated Adverbs.