David Anable, who died early this week, was more than a former Monitor correspondent and senior editor. He was a mentor to legions of Monitor reporters and editors, by nature a teacher, with a strong sense of principle and a gift for making reporters’ draft copy shine on deadline.

Foremost, the “lede” should be short and the point of the story readily apparent, David drilled into us. As foreign editor, he led morning meetings dubbed “Sunday School,” as we gathered round to discuss events and coverage ideas. To young staffers, it was better than grad school. We were being paid to learn.

I met David in 1980, during a college semester in Moscow. He was visiting the paper’s bureau, where I had befriended correspondent David Willis and his family. One day I dropped by, and there was this tall, charming British gentleman with a ready smile and endless questions.

“Do you like to travel?” David asked. I nodded enthusiastically. “You should think about being a foreign correspondent,” he said. “Come see me when you’re about to graduate.”

I did, and the rest is history. David rose to become managing editor, but resigned in 1988 – along with the editor, deputy managing editor, and many staff – in a dispute over the Monitor’s direction. Still, he remained a dear friend to many of us. He went on to lead the journalism department at Boston University and then the International Center for Journalists in Washington.

Early in his Monitor career, David landed the perfect (for him) reporting assignment: covering the United Nations, where the entire world comes to you. He had studied agricultural economics at Oxford, but his heart was in understanding the globe. It was also with his beloved wife, Isobel, and their three daughters.

As an editor, David was the unseen hand behind many a well-executed Monitor story. Jeff Carmel, a former editor on the international desk, summed it up: “David had an uncommon, uncanny ability to quickly and calmly discern the key elements buried in a correspondent’s copy, and in reworking a story, bring out the best in the writer and benefit our readers.”