The Donald Has Left the Building.(Donald C. Drake)(Brief Article)

After nearly half a century in the newspaper business, "I'm a little sad that now when I meet people for the first time I can't say that I'm a reporter," says Donald C. Drake, a pioneering science and medical writer who took a buyout after 35 years with the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Actually, Drake, with about 20 plays under his belt and another in the works, prefers to say that he is "changing jobs" at age 66, but he's still not comfortable calling himself a playwright.

Colleagues recall the reporter, editor and mentor tirelessly pushing his long narrative sty