White among MPA announced 2023 Newspaper Hall of Fame inductees

Posted 7/6/23

Five new inductees are set to join the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame on Sept. 22, during the Missouri Press Association’s 157th Annual Convention and Trade Show in St. Louis. Established by …

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White among MPA announced 2023 Newspaper Hall of Fame inductees

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Five new inductees are set to join the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame on Sept. 22, during the Missouri Press Association’s 157th Annual Convention and Trade Show in St. Louis. Established by MPA in 1991, the 2023 Hall of Fame class will be the 33rd group to be inducted.

This year’s inductees are the late Terez Paylor, a prolific sports reporter for The Kansas City Star and other outlets; the late Eugene Webster Sharp, a legendary journalism educator at the Missouri School of Journalism; the late Jane See White, a renowned writer, editor and journalism professor; Dr. Donald M. Suggs, longtime owner and publisher of the St. Louis American; and Dan Wehmer, publisher and owner of the Webster County Citizen, Seymour.

Hall of Fame inductees or their families receive Pinnacle Awards in honor of the inductees’ service to the Missouri newspaper industry and their communities. Inductees’ plaques will join the permanent display of inductees in the MPA office in Columbia and in the student lounge in Lee Hills Hall at the Missouri School of Journalism.

Journalism was in Jane See White’s blood from the time of her birth as the daughter of Robert Mitchell White II, editor and publisher of The Mexico Ledger. Her first taste of journalism came at the age of nine when she was the founding editor and publisher of The Mexico Junior Ledger, a summer weekly covering neighborhood news.

White was a 1972 graduate of Hollins College with honors and after graduating worked at the Roanoke, Va. Times for two years. She returned to Missouri to become a feature writer for The Kansas City Star, where she earned awards for an investigative series regarding state-run schools for the mentally disabled and another on state psychiatric hospitals.

Her stories were known by those in Jefferson City as having the kind of response that forced action from policymakers. At the same time, she was seen as a cohesive force for the newsroom, always pushing toward greatness.

She joined The Associated Press in 1976 as an editor on the World Desk in the New York City headquarters, and her time there included work as a member of a six-person team writing national feature stories. In 1991, White moved to Arizona and held various roles with the Phoenix Gazette and The Arizona Republic. From 2006 until her retirement, she was an editor and editorial writer for the Arizona Daily Star.

White also spent more than 16 years sharing her expertise and passion with future journalists as an adjunct professor with the University of Arizona School of Journalism. She died in January 2023, and her inclusion in the Hall of Fame marks the fourth of her family, including her father, her grandfather, L.M. White, and great-grandfather, Col. Robert M. White, to be inducted.


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