John Brewer, whose coast-to-coast journalism career spanned 50 years, including nearly two decades at The Associated Press, has died. He was 76.

Brewer and his longtime friend Randy Johnson were on their annual fly fishing trip in Montana on Friday when the boat Brewer was in hit a submerged log and flipped over, Johnson said. Two others were rescued, but Brewer drowned, he said.

“I’m still having trouble digesting it,” he said Saturday.

Brewer retired in 2015 after nearly 18 years as editor and publisher of the Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles. Current publisher Eran Kennedy remembered him Saturday as “a true journalist and editor at heart” and “a person of unwavering integrity, driven by a passion for community and local journalism.”

“We are profoundly saddened by the unexpected loss of John Brewer. On behalf of the Peninsula Daily News family, I extend our heartfelt condolences to John’s loved ones,” Kennedy said in an email. “We will carry forward his torch, ensuring that his memory lives on.”