John S. Knight

John Shively Knight (October 26, 1894 – June 16, 1981) was an American newspaper publisher and editor based in Akron, Ohio.

John Shively Knight
BornOctober 26, 1894
DiedJune 16, 1981(1981-06-16) (aged 86)
Resting placeRose Hill Burial Park, Fairlawn, Ohio, US[1]
EducationCornell University
OccupationNewspaper publisher & editor
Known forCo-founder of Knight Ridder newspapers & Co-Founder of John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Board member ofKnight Ridder, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Associated Press
Spouse(s)
  • Katherine "Kitty" McLain (married 1921 d. 1929)
  • Beryl Zoller Comstock (married 1932 d. 1974)
  • Mary Elizabeth Augustus (m. 1976 d. 1980)
Children
  • John Shively, Jr. (KIA 1945)
  • Charles Landon II (19242000)
  • Frank McLain (d. 1958)
Parent(s)Charles Landon Knight
Clara Irene Shively
Awards

Early life and education

Knight was born in Bluefield, West Virginia, to Charles Landon Knight and Clara Irene Shively. Known to his family and friends as "Jack," he attended Cornell University but never graduated, leaving early to enlist in the Army. While at Cornell he was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. However, he later received the degree of "War Alumnus."

Career

In 1920 he started at his father's newspaper, The Akron Beacon Journal [2], as sportswriter, and moved up to managing editor before inheriting the paper in 1933. In 1923, Knight served as the fourth president of the Akron Host Lions Club. Beginning a nationwide expansion, Knight bought the Miami Herald in 1937. His national Knight Newspapers chain, headquartered in Akron, eventually also included the Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Daily News, Charlotte Observer, Tallahassee Democrat, Lexington Herald and Leader, and Macon Telegraph.

During the latter part of World War II, Knight took a leave from the newspaper business, serving as Director of the U.S. Office of Censorship, in London.[3]

By 1973, his portfolio included fifteen newspapers. A year later, 1974, he merged his company with Ridder Publications to form Knight-Ridder Newspapers Inc.

He co-founded what would become the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with his brother James L. Knight.

Honors and awards

  • His nationwide column, "The Editor's Notebook," won him the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. [4]
  • In 1969 Knight received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College.

Personal life

John Knight lost first his wife, Katherine, and then two of three sons at early ages. Lieutenant John S. Knight, Jr. was killed in action near Münster, Germany on March 29, 1945. [5] Youngest son Frank McLain Knight died at age thirty on March 9, 1958 following emergency brain surgery. [6]

In retirement, John Knight devoted much of his time to the raising of Thoroughbred race horses at his Fourth Estate Stable based in Miami.

Knight died of a heart attack in Akron.

Dedications

gollark: I'm not sure about reproducible (the build config for a project probably won't specify precise versions for all compilation stuff) but declarative, yes.
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gollark: One really cool thing I use on a server is NixOS.
gollark: Yes, because they compile the binaries on their end.
gollark: I use Arch Linux, which is rolling release (there are no fixed versions of the distro, you just update your packages whenever they get updated), very flexible (you install it manually, choosing partition layout, DE, extra software, etc), and has the AUR, a giant collection of user-packaged software.

References

Further reading

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