Nancy Hicks Maynard Remembered

updated Oct. 3, 2008

A memorial service for Nancy Hicks Maynard occurred in New York City. Novelist and poet Ishmael Reed described the occasion as "a high-class thing, like Nancy." Journalists gathered to pay their respects and share their recollections and anecdotes of Maynard. Former AAJA national president Evelyn Hsu, who now works for the Maynard Institute and was a graduate of the Summer Program for Minority Journalists, recalled how Maynard would tug at her hair while editing copy, and "the worse the copy, the more she tugged."

updated Sept. 26, 2008

Richard Prince reports that "Nancy Maynard memorial service has been set for 10:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 3, at the Fourth Universalist Society, 160 Central Park West (corner of 76th Street), New York, N.Y. 10023. Reception: noon, the Dizzy Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 3 West 60 St., New York, N.Y. 10023. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, 1211 Preservation Parkway, Oakland, CA 94612."

Sept. 22, 2008

Nancy Hicks Maynard, a visionary journalist, died Sunday in Los Angeles after a prolonged illness. She was 61. Along with her husband Robert C. Maynard, she co-founded the Institute for Journalism Education, which opened the door for many journalists of color. Her journalism career began in 1966 as a reporter for the New York Post. She jumped to the New York Times, where she was the youngest staff member and one of the early black women journalists. In 1975 she married Robert, a Washington Post reporter. Two years later the couple left their jobs and traveled to California to form the Institute for Journalism Education, which ran the Summer Program for Minority Journalists at the University of California, Berkeley.

AAJA President Jeanne Mariani-Belding offered her condolences on behalf of the organization.

"This is truly sad news. Both Nancy and her husband, Bob, have done so much to champion diversity and to ensure journalists receive the training they need to accomplish their goals. Not only did they break down barriers through their own accomplishments in their careers - they also opened the door for so many journalists of color along the way," Mariani-Belding said.

"I was one of the beneficiaries," said long-time AAJA member Lisa Chung, "going through the Summer Program for Minority Journalists, as did Steve Chin, Evelyn Hsu, and many others. That, combined with the editing and management programs, helped contribute mightily to diversifying news rooms at all levels, and groomed leaders."

"Nancy was truly a trailblazer. I feel fortunate to have benefited from her work, and pray her spirit will live on in the countless others she touched through her work and her heart." said Randall Yip former AAJA vice president of broadcast and AAJA/Maynard Management fellow.

The Maynards bought the Oakland Tribune in 1983, becoming the first African American-owned major metropolitan daily. They sold the paper in 1992, shortly before Robert's death. Today, the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education provides editing and management training programs and is led by Dori Maynard.