Remembering the magazine that captured Charlotte's soul
Tributes pour in for Charlotte magazine
The following article appeared in the December 5, 2025, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
The 57-year-old monthly ‘helped the city understand itself.’ This month’s issue is its last.
by Greg Lacour
In spring 1995, in an era when print media thrived, an editor named Ken Allen hired recent Davidson College graduate Rick Thurmond to the editorial staff of Charlotte magazine. The monthly publication was launched in 1968, but in 1995 had a new owner, which meant a fresh staff that had to start from practically nothing. That was about how much Thurmond made at first: $5 per hour.
Allen left in 1999, and Thurmond, at 26, became its editor. He remained in that job for 14 years, then became publisher. By the time he left for a job with Charlotte Center City Partners in 2016, Thurmond had helped guide a publication that, month after month, told the story of an emerging American city — and helped showcase a succession of talented writers, editors, photographers and other professionals who continue to shape Charlotte.
“I think we always wanted Charlotte to be the best version of itself,” Thurmond, now chief marketing officer for Center City Partners, said this week. “Let’s celebrate the best parts of this city, and let’s also hold a mirror up to ourselves. If you love a place, you want it to be the best version of itself, so you’re going to want to highlight those flaws — but from a place of love, because you want it to be better.”
When he heard the news last month that the magazine’s owner, Morris Communications, had decided abruptly to cease publication of Charlotte magazine with the December issue, he was “zen” about it. He had other things to do for his own job, and his formal association with the publication had ended nearly a decade before.