Nelson Poynter (1903–1978) was an American publisher and

media proprietor A media proprietor, also called a media executive, media mogul, media tycoon, or press baron is an entrepreneur who controls any means of public or commercial mass media, through the personal ownership or holding of a dominant position within a ...

. He was the owner of the

Times Publishing Company Times Publishing Company is a newspaper and magazine publisher. Its flagship publication is the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (formerly the ''St. Petersburg Times''), a daily newspaper serving the Tampa Bay area. It also publishes the business magazine '' Fl ...

, and the co-founder of the ''

Congressional Quarterly ''Congressional Quarterly'', or ''CQ'', is an American publication that is part of the privately owned publishing company CQ Roll Call, which covers the United States Congress. ''CQ'' was formerly acquired by the U.K.-based Economist Group and ...

''. He is the namesake of the

Poynter Institute The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Netw ...

Early life

Poynter was born in Sullivan, Indiana, in 1903. His family moved to Florida nine years later when his father, Paul Poynter, bought the '' St. Petersburg Times''. Nelson returned to Indiana to get his B.A. from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

in 1924 and went on to complete a master's degree from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1927. While in his junior year at Indiana University Bloomington, he was the editor in chief of the Indiana Daily Student.

Career

Poynter worked various newspaper jobs across the country after completing his education. He began buying stock from his father in 1935, and he became an editor in 1939. He stayed in this position until his father's death in 1950 when he was appointed president. He co-founded the ''

'' with his wife, Henrietta. Poynter established the Poynter Fund in 1954 to honor his father. He gave generously to his two

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

s to enrich their journalism programs. His most lasting legacies were to establish the Modern Media Institute, which was renamed the

after his death in 1978, and to will his majority share in the

, which owns the St. Petersburg Times (renamed the Tampa Bay Times in 2012), which likely saved the paper, and Congressional Quarterly (sold to The Economist Group in 2009).

Personal life, death and legacy

Poynter was married three times: first to Catherine, then to Henrietta from 1942 until her death in 1968, and finally to Marian Knauss until his death. He had two daughters. Poynter died of a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

on June 15, 1978 in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the List of municipalities in Florida, fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the sta ...

. In a memo beforehand, he instructed ''The Times staff not to overplay news of his death and insisted there be no memorial service because "I have observed no one really likes to go to a funeral." The Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, built in 1996, was built in memory of Poynter on the campus of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Poynter, Nelson 1903 births 1978 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople Indiana University Bloomington alumni Yale University alumni People from Sullivan, Indiana Tampa Bay Times