 Albert E. FitzpatrickAlbert
E. Fitzpatrick, a native of Eylria, Ohio, and a graduate of Kent State University, became
the first black to work in any capacity for the Akron Beacon Journal. Later, he was named
the first black managing editor and executive editor of a major metropolitan newspaper in
the U.S.
Fitzpatrick directed the Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of
the Kent State disturbance in 1970 where four students lost their lives. Then in 1975,
1976 and 1983, he served on the Pulitzer Jury.
On January 1, 1985, he became Director of Minority Affairs
for the Beacon Journal’s parent company, Knight Ridder, in Miami. He was promoted to
Assistant V.P. in 1987 and became the first black officer in Knight Ridder. During his
tenure he created 15 diversity programs within knight Ridder and retired as assistant vice
president in 1994.
Fitzpatrick was associate professor and senior fellow at
Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism during the 1979-1980 academic year. He is
president and CEO of Fitzpatrick Consultants, a diversity entity and an adjunct professor
in communications at Kent State University.
He and his wife, Derien, also a Kent State University
graduate and educator have been married for more than 50 years. They have three children
and four grandchildren. |
