Two-time Boston Globe editor Brian McGrory will not return to Boston University, making permanent the leave of absence he took to return to the paper last year.
“It feels to me, and I hope to many of you, that we are making tremendous progress, consistently, sometimes relentlessly, putting out truly interesting and important journalism. I couldn’t be more delighted to be a part of it all,” McGrory wrote in his message to Boston Globe employees.
Dan Kennedy first reported the news of McGrory’s decision to end his relationship with BU.
McGrory had led the Globe for 10 years before leaving in 2023 to head up BU’s journalism school. At the time, Nancy Barnes took over leading the paper’s newsroom.
That changed in late 2025, when Barnes stepped down, saying she wanted to “consider new challenges and tend to some personal issues.” McGrory came back on as top editor, but left the door open with the university.
Neither the Globe nor BU immediately returned messages seeking comment.
McGrory joined the Globe in 1989, and quickly settled in as a reliable columnist with a teasing vendetta against the well-heeled town of Hingham. He took the big chair in 2012 after Marty Baron departed for the Washington Post.
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