The Indiana Publisher

May 2022 IP

Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher

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Page 2 May 2022 HSPA Board of Directors 2022 session HSPA Foundation Board Members Bill Hackney, e La Porte County Herald-Dispatch (Michigan City) and e Rochester Sentinel Don Hurd, Hoosier Media Group Gillian Kelk, Sullivan Daily Times Brenda McLane, Hometown Media Group Mark Miller, e News-Banner (Bluon) Kathy Tretter, Ferdinand News and Spencer County Leader (Rockport) HSPA Board Members Nathan Feltman, Indianapolis Business Journal Bud Hunt, AIM Media Indiana Curt Kovener, e Crothersville Times Robert Shegog, Indianapolis Recorder Chris White, e Times Media Co. HSPA Board of Directors HSPA Officers President: Larry Hensley, e Hoosier Times HSPA Foundation Board of Directors HSPA Foundation Officers President: Robyn McCloskey, CNHI HSPA Staff Amelia McClure, executive director, general counsel admclure@hspa.com (317) 803-4772 Pamela Lego, director of operations plego@hspa.com (812) 350-7711 Shawn Goldsby, business manager sgoldsby@hspa.com (317) 803-4772 Ruth Witmer, communications specialist news@hspa.com (812) 855-5898 e Indiana Publisher is published monthly by the Hoosier State Press Association, 429 E. Vermont St. #206 Indianapolis, Indiana 46202 Ray Cooney Commercial Review (Portland) A journalist, free press advocate and community lead- er, Jack Ronald died April 23. He was 73. Ronald had been diag- nosed with liver cancer in early March. He was chairman and president of the Graphic Printing Company, where he had worked in various capaci- ties since 1974. He was the longtime publisher of The Commercial Review before his retirement in summer 2020 and served as its editor for decades. He is a member of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. Ronald was born to Hugh and Sara (Haynes) Ronald in Portland on Nov. 17, 1948. He graduated from Portland High School in 1966 and Earlham College in 1970. Though he had not planned a career in journalism, he decided to give it a try when there was an opening for a city editor at The Commercial Review in 1974. (His parents had started a weekly newspaper, The Graphic, on his first birthday, and it later bought the daily publication.) He worked at The CR for 46 years — he served as editor from 1977 to 2014 and publisher from 1982 to 2020 — and was still writing his weekly column and filling in as a proof- reader after he left his full-time role. He served as chairman and president of the Graphic Printing Company from 1985 until the time of his death. Ronald was a freelance writer, critic and columnist for newspapers in Indianapolis for about two years before joining the staff of The Commercial Review. He published "Boodle," a children's quar- terly magazine with national circulation, from 1989 to '97. He served as a visiting professor of journalism at Earlham College on a part- time basis from 1986 through 1993. Ronald's work earned him a litany of journalism awards, including for edito- rial writing, reporting and photography from the Hoosier State Press Association, Inland Press Association and Indiana Associated Press Media Editors. (He also served as presi- dent of APME from 1980 to '82.) He won the Indiana Journalism Award from Ball State University in 2004, was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 2013 and received the Hoosier State Press Association's Charlie Biggs Commitment to Community Award in 2014. "Jack Ronald's continued activism through his involve- ment in numerous organiza- tions within the county as well as his published columns and coverage in The Commercial Review give a voice and a presence that would be void if not for his genuine, dem- onstrated love for his com- munity," said former Jay County High School principal and current Jay School Board member Phil Ford in support- ing Ronald's nomination for the commitment to community award. "Jack has a sense of history and tradition, mixed with a desire to gently push the community progressively forward." That commitment to com- munity began shortly after he returned to his hometown, as he joined Portland Rotary Club in 1975 and was a member until his death. He was named a Paul Harris Fellow in 1995. He began a six-year run as director of United Way of Jay County in 1975 as well. Ronald was founding direc- tor of the Jay County Arts Council from 1976 to '80 and was instrumental in the cre- ation of Arts Place. He served on the council's exhibits panel from 1994 through '98 and was on the Arts Place board of directors from 2013 until the time of his death. He was a driving force in Jack Ronald, Journalism Hall of Famer, former publisher of The Commercial Review dies at 73 Ronald See Ronald, page 6 Looking for newspaper employee Looking for a job? Check out the HSPA job listings online at hspa.com/jobs and in the Indiana Publisher every month. Questions? Email sgoldsby@hspa.com.

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