The St. Louis Evening Whirl is reporting that Barry Thomas, the publication's chairman and chief executive officer, died last week. He was 57 and had been battling cancer.

St. Louis' most ribald register of fractious felons, the Evening Whirl started in 1938, as the "Night Whirl," by the legendary Ben Thomas.

A former track teammate of Jesse Owens at Ohio State University, Ben Thomas died in 2005. His son, who managed the company from his home in California, took over the top position after that.

Managing editor Brian Ireland said the paper will continue to publish weekly, with no changes in distribution, format or style.

"We're still going to be plugging right along, nothing is going to change. We'll plow ahead with the 'hard' paper," said Ireland, who along with Anthony Sanders runs the STL side of the publication.

Ireland noted that Barry Thomas stayed in California after taking over his father's newspaper. "I only met him one time, I think," Ireland said.

The paper also will continue offering articles from entertainment and political correspondents, which includes longtime public relations personality Gentry Trotter, Ireland said.

Ireland said Barry Thomas' brother, Kevin Thomas, plans to take over his brother's management duties, and also will continue to work on improving the publication's website.

"Anthony and I," he said, "we're still back in the Stone Age."