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Cory Farley has been one of the luminaries of Northern Nevada journalism, appearing regularly in print since 1981. His easygoing, comfortable prose quickly established him as one of the Reno Evening Gazette’s top news feature writers, and his subsequent left-of-center column writing has made him one of the most-read writers that Nevada journalism has ever produced. His writing has sparked conversation among newspaper readers in the region for decades.
He came to journalism late in life and completely by happenstance. After flunking out of college, Farley went into the Army and did a tour in Vietnam as a Special Forces medic. When he returned, he registered for college again at the age of 23, and when the girl next to him in line selected journalism as her major, he decided to do the same.
It turned out to be a propitious decision. Farley enjoyed writing and did it well. His first journalism job was at Hot Rod magazine in Los Angeles, an ideal gig for a writer who loved cars. After working there for about a year, he came to Nevada by way of Autoweek magazine, then published in Reno. When Autoweek was sold and moved to Detroit four years later, Farley stayed in Reno and joined the Evening Gazette as a part-time photographer.
“I came across a few decent stories while taking pictures, and (Evening Gazette Executive Director Everett) Landers, encouraged me to do an occasional op-ed and opinion piece,” explained Farley. “That gradually turned into a weekly column, and when a job opened up in 1981 in what were then still called ‘the women’s pages,’ I got it.”
He enjoyed writing features more than news, and aside from a year on the news side and a short tour on the copy desk, Farley remained in the feature section until he retired in 2007. The column had been published more or less continuously, sometimes weekly, sometimes weekdays and Sundays, usually three or four a week, for 26 years. He continues to occasionally write opinion pieces published in the paper now know as the Reno Gazette Journal.
“If I could go back and start over, I would,” he told us.
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