Kay Fanning
| Kay Fanning | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Katherine Woodruff October 18, 1927 Joliet, Illinois |
| Died | October 19, 2000 (aged 73) Boston, Massachusetts |
Katherine "Kay" Fanning (October 18, 1927 – October 19, 2000) was an American journalist and newspaper editor and publisher. She was editor and publisher of the Anchorage Daily News. In 1983, she became editor of the Christian Science Monitor in Boston, Massachusetts, where she became the first woman to edit an American national newspaper. She was the president of the American Society of News Editors from April 1987–April 1988.
Born Katherine Woodruff, she was the only child of a "small-town banker" in Illinois. Sent to private school, she later graduated from Smith College. After college, she returned to Illinois and soon met Marshall Field IV, heir to a large publishing business. They were married in 1950 and had three children together.
In 1963, Fanning, then Kay Field, decided to obtain a divorce from her husband (who died shortly afterwards) and after a difficult two years, she quit drinking, taking sleeping pills and tranquilizers, and resumed her study of Christian Science, which she had first come to know as a child. Embarking on a "new path", she soon "felt guided by intuition" to move to Alaska and in 1965, she and her three children moved to Anchorage. She soon got a job—part-time at $2 an hour—at the Anchorage Daily News, her first job, but in a field she felt close to, having been married to a newspaper publisher for 13 years, and having had some experience at her college newspaper. Her early experience writing at the paper gave her a wide variety of assignments and topics, from dog sled races to tragedy to controversies, such as birth control. As a single mother, finding time to write was difficult and Fanning settled on writing from 3:00 to 7:00 in the morning.
In spring 1966, newspaper editor Larry Fanning came to visit. Formerly managing editor at the San Francisco Chronicle and later, editor at the Chicago Daily News, where he worked for Field's ex-husband. The two quickly married. Larry Fanning came to investigate the possibility of purchasing the Anchorage Daily News, the owners of which were nearing retirement. Both Kay Fields and Fanning grew interested in the idea, and though the financial prospects did not look good, they were not dissuaded, seeing the public service possibilities of the newspaper, wanting to provide an alternative voice and feeling that it would become a family venture involving her children, as well. After some difficult negotiations, they were able to buy the newspaper in September 1967.
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