Former Cullman Times Publisher Bill Morgan has died at age 69.

Morgan served as publisher from 2007 until early 2014 when he left the newspaper industry after 32 years in the business. He died Wednesday.

Friends and family gathered in Cullman for a private wake Friday evening. No services are planned. His ashes will be scattered at a favorite fly fishing spot in Montana.

The Times job brought him from Greenville, Texas, where he had been publisher of the Herald-Banner and manager of three affiliated weekly newspapers. Prior to that, he was publisher of newspapers in Sweetwater, Jacksonville and Athens, Texas.

Morgan started as a freelance photographer in New Mexico and worked his way up through the editorial departments at newspapers in New Mexico, Montana, Oregon and Oklahoma.