Beverly "Bev" Carter, a longtime newspaper publisher and community leader in Fort Bend County, died Saturday of cancer. She was 72.

Carter founded The Fort Bend Star in 1978 and also penned "Bev's Burner," a column that mixed homey personal anecdotes with sometimes biting political observations.

"She was one of a kind," said her son, Michael Fredrickson, who has taken over the reins as publisher of the family-owned newspaper.

Carter liked nothing better than taking on what she saw as an unaccountable "Old Boys Network" in Fort Bend County.

She would regularly lambast political figures from former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, giving him the nickname 'Congressvarmit' to Gov. Rick Perry, whom she called a buffoon.

"I have an obligation to my readers and I have a reputation for telling it like it is," Carter once told a reporter.

Carter was born in 1941 into a West Texas ranching family in Ballinger, about 70 miles south of Abilene.

She studied English at Texas Tech University and after a short stint teaching in Lubbock, Carter moved to the Houston area.

She spent about 10 years teaching high school English in the Alief Independent School District.

She was an adviser for the high school newspaper and also wrote for a community paper during the summer.

"After 10 years of teaching in Alief, she decided she could run a newspaper," Fredrickson said.

She decided to stake her claim as a journalist in Fort Bend County.

"It was nothing back then," Fredrickson said. "She could foresee the growth. She nailed it."

Carter would eventually compile an extensive list of local contacts who would pass information to her.

"My mom did very few 'freedom of information' requests. She didn't have to," Fredrickson said.

She "would spend hours on the phone talking to people."

Carter also founded the Fort Bend Business Journal and the Fort Bend Community TV channel.

Survivors include her son, Michael, his wife and her three grandchildren.

A memorial service will be 10:30 a.m. July 20 at Stafford Civic Center, 1415 Constitution in Stafford.