A grammarian of the old school, he was a stickler for the use of proper English, good sentence structure and correct spelling.

Through the years he penned a large number of carefully phrased, but hard-hitting editorials which attracted widespread attention and not infrequently resulted in reforms.

Len Gorman, somehow, made time for all who came to see him to seek his advice or sympathy. That included members of his own news staff who drifted in and out of his office, without formality, to discuss problems — professional or personal.

A tough competitor, he insisted his newspaper reporters get the stories first, but make sure they were accurate. The main role of the newspaper, as he saw it, was to keep the readers informed. He maintained that a newspaper existed to be the conscience of the community, to expose wrongdoing, keep public officials honest and politicians worried.

In later years up to the time of his being named editor emeritus in 1983, Mr. Gorman confined his newspaper pursuits to writing editorials and setting editorial policy. In earlier years, he personally directed the day-to-day news gathering operations of the paper. It was not at all unusual in the days when he was city editor and later managing editor to see Mr. Gorman in the office before noon and find him still there after midnight.

To Len Gorman, newspapering was an exciting, challenging, honorable and important profession of which he was immensely proud to be a part. He viewed himself as playing a small but vital role in providing a public service to the community in which he lived about 60 years.

Born in Palmyra, he attended schools there before entering the then-new journalism program at Syracuse University in 1925. Mr. Gorman worked full-time on the Daily Orange, and waited on tables and performed other chores to earn the money to help pay his way through college.

He was hired as a reporter at the old Syracuse Herald in 1929. From 1930 to 1932, he operated his own public relations firm and handled fund-raising for Syracuse University. In 1933, Mr. Gorman joined The Post-Standard staff as a copy reader.

In 1941, Mr. Gorman was promoted to editorial writer. He served in that capacity until 1947 when he was named city editor, a position he held until 1953, when he was appointed managing editor. In 1960, he was named editor. He held that position until 1966 when he became executive editor.

In 1980, Mr. Gorman received the Syracuse Press Club's award for best exemplifying high professional standards. He was a longtime, very active Rotarian and seldom missed a meeting.

Mr. Gorman was a member and director of the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce. He served as president of the New York Society of Newspaper Editors in 1960 and '61 and of the New York Associated Press Association in 1956. He was also a member of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and the Syracuse Press Club.