Margaret (Peggy) Carleton Roth

Margaret (Peggy) Roth, an award-winning journalist whose career spanned 48 years, died January 27th after a heart attack. She was 70. A tenacious reporter and meticulous editor, Peggy worked for newspapers from community dailies to The Washington post; and from private military publishers to the U.S. Army. She began her career in 1978 at CD Publications Inc., covering the federal government as a reporter and later ascending to managing editor. In 1981, she took a reporting job with the Journal Newspapers, a chain of daily newspapers covering the suburbs of Washington, D.C. That job, Peggy later wrote, “taught me the skills and rewards of talking with people from all walks of life, and reinforced my analytic abilities in widely varying situations.” During her nearly seven years there, she wrote about a broad variety of topics, winning awards for her reporting; ended her stint there as a respected editor; and met her future husband, fellow reporter and editor William (Bill) Hollyer. In 1988, Peggy began a nearly nine-year career with Army Times Publishing Co., an independent publisher of military and defense news. Her first assignment was as a staff writer covering several military beats. In 1991, she was promoted to editor of Life in the Times, a specialized feature section covering topics of interest to military families. Also in 1991, she co-authored a book called “Operation Just Cause: The Storming of Panama.” In subsequent years Peggy was named editor of the Times News Service, and finally special sections editor. She left to join The Washington Post in January 1997. There, she was a multiplatform editor working on several sections, including National, Financial, Metro, Outlook, Travel and the suburban Extras, winning national awards for headline writing. She also contributed to several sections as a features writer. From 2008 to 2010, Peggy worked for SAIC, supporting the Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier, a small U.S. Army agency responsible for the development and deployment of equipment and weapons for soldiers. There, her duties covered the gamut of internal and external communications, including preparing Army personnel for media engagements and training younger writers and editors. From 2010 until her retirement in 2022 Peggy worked for the U.S. Army. She began as senior editor of Army AL&T, a quarterly journal that is a key source for Army acquisitions news. Her duties there were diverse, involving responsibility for every phase of production. She selected and edited articles, supervised the development of a central database and supported special projects. Throughout her writing and editing career, Peggy was known as a dogged reporter, fearless in battling to get a good story. As an editor, she was precise and conscientious, widely admired for her skill. As a colleague, she was generous, droll and witty. A lifelong learner, she had a broad range of knowledge and spoke Russian and French. Margaret Carleton Roth was born August 23rd, 1955, in Chester, PA, to her parents Ernest and Margaret Roth. She graduated from Agnes Irwin School in 1973 and from the University of Virginia in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in Russian Language and Linguistics. After her marriage to William Hollyer in 1988, the couple moved to the Kingstowne area of Fairfax County. Their son, Alexander (Alex), was born in 1993. Peggy’s last years were marked by a struggle against the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease, but she never lost her inquisitive and indomitable spirit. In addition to her husband Bill Hollyer and son Alex Hollyer, she is survived by her daughter in law Grace Hollyer, brother Bob Roth and sister Molly MacBean.

Tributes

Margaret (Peggy) Carleton Roth

August 23, 1955 - January 27, 2026