Mary Jo (Jody) Reston, longtime regional newspaper publisher and business manager on Martha’s Vineyard, died at age 86 on Feb. 12 in Sarasota, Fla.

Jody retired from her leadership posts at the Vineyard Gazette in 1999 after 25 years of distinguished service. She then moved from the Martha’s Vineyard to Sarasota, where she spent her remaining years in retirement.

She was born May 16, 1937 in Kenosha, Wis. to Edwin B. and Evelyn M. O’Brien. She grew up in Delavan, Wis. and graduated in 1959 from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

She began her career as a school teacher in Wisconsin before moving two years later to Washington, D.C. where she worked for several years, first at the Republican National Committee and later in a business position at Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

In 1965 she married Richard (Dick) Reston, a journalist stationed in Washington, D.C. with the Los Angeles Times. His assignments moved both of them to postings abroad, four years in Moscow and then three years in London after Russia. They returned to the nation’s capital in 1973.

In 1975 they moved to Martha’s Vineyard to run the Vineyard Gazette, a community weekly newspaper owned by the Reston family. James (Scotty) Reston and Sally Reston were the publishers at that time. Jody took over the paper’s financial operations as business manager and Dick guided the editorial side as executive editor. The couple became co-publishers in 1988.

Beyond her many newspaper responsibilities, Jody was deeply involved in community activities ranging from fundraising drives for public organizations to support for environmental efforts to protect the special character of the Vineyard and campaigns to improve the quality of health care on the Island. She served on the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital board of directors from 1979 to 1989.

Her friends and colleagues recalled her as a person who loved to talk about politics and current events. They remembered her laughter and contagious smile and described her as a kind, generous and fiercely-independent person, someone with endless curiosity. She was devoted to family and her Catholic faith; she loved to travel, play bridge, dine out and was a lifelong supporter of the theatre and performing arts.

In recent years she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

She is survived by two brothers, Thomas O’Brien of Milwaukee, Wis. and Patrick O’Brien of Sarasota, Fla., her sister, Kathleen Maybee of Sarasota, FL, and her former husband Richard Reston.

She was predeceased by her parents, Edwin B. and Evelyn M. O’Brien, and a brother, Robert O’Brien.

Her family is being assisted by Toale Brothers Funeral Home in Sarasota, Fla. A private interment is planned at St. Andrews Cemetery in Delavan, Wis.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association at act.alz.org/goto/JodyR.