DETROIT — Carole Leigh Hutton, managing editor of the Detroit Free Press since 1996, was named executive editor Monday, becoming the first woman to serve as top news executive at the paper.

        Hutton, 45, replaces Robert G. McGruder, who died April 12 after a 20-month battle with cancer.

        “I'm very excited. I have great anticipation of being able to do all kinds of good things,” Hutton said. “We have a tremendous amount of talent in this newsroom and there's always the opportunity to do more and do better.”

        Publisher Heath Meriwether said Hutton has shown her leadership at the paper through difficult times, including McGruder's illness and a strike in 1995.

        Meriwether said that when he considered the field of candidates, Hutton was at “the head of the class.”

        A native of Framingham, Mass., Hutton graduated in 1978 from Michigan State University. A year later, she became a reporter with The Times in Hammond, Ind.

        Hutton joined The Detroit News in 1988 as an editor. She moved to the Free Press two years later. Hutton became city editor in 1993, deputy managing editor in 1995 and managing editor in 1996.

        She is a former committee chair of the national Associated Press Managing Editors and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

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