Toni Louise

Toni Mack was born to Otha Ray and Norma Mack on June 11, 1956 -- the youngest of their four children. Her journey began in Mobile, Alabama, but as part of a military family (her parents survived the attack on Pearl Harbor), she moved around a bit before settling in her "home town" of Ruston, Louisiana. After graduating from high school in Ruston, Toni headed to Rice University to continue her studies, focusing on economics and English. These disciplines served her well when-- armed with her degree from Rice--she entered the workforce as a journalist for Forbes magazine in 1980. Toni's intellectual prowess was recognized at an early age, notwithstanding the fact that, by her own admission, she was age twelve or thereabouts when it dawned on her that eating carrots "because they put hair on your chest" (according to her father) was not necessarily a desirable result! Ms. Mack's perspicacity was never more in evidence than when she pulled back the curtain on a certain company's accounting machinations much to the chagrin of said company's upper echelons of management. Her 1993 article "Hidden Risks" did just that and is credited with sounding an early alarm of trouble at Enron. The energy industry was Toni's beat. Her distinguished career with Forbes -- punctuated by awards (1998 IAEE Award for Excellence in Written Journalism) and incisive interviews with captains of the energy industry -- was all the more remarkable considering that she battled multiple sclerosis from 1984 on. Away from work, Toni enjoyed Houston's art scene, fine dining with friends, reading voraciously and cat whispering. She was a fabulous raconteur whose delightfully conspiratorial tone would have her audience laughing well before the punch line. Toni moved on to cover a more heavenly beat on November 26, 2016. She will be missed by many friends and associates including the "Friday Happy Hour Group" and "Flacks and Hacks". Those of us who knew her well cherish the memory of a fiercely loyal and steadfast friend.