June 20, 2020 at 3:55 a.m.
Ronald to retire, Cooney to be publisher
The Commercial Review
Ronald to retire, Cooney to be publisher
Jack Ronald will be retiring as publisher of The Commercial Review and The News and Sun at the end of June.
He’ll be succeeded as publisher by Ray Cooney, who will become editor and publisher of both newspapers.
Ronald, 71, has been publisher of both newspapers since 1982. He joined The Commercial Review as a reporter in 1974 and became editor in 1977. He relinquished the title of editor to Cooney in 2014.
Cooney joined The CR as sports editor in March 2001.
During Cooney’s time as editor, The CR has consistently placed among the top three small dailies in Indiana for general excellence in Hoosier State Press Association competition, receiving first place in 2014 and 2016.
He’s won 88 awards from HSPA and the Indiana Associated Press Media Editors.
He also was honored with the Indiana Baseball Coaches Association Outstanding Baseball Media Award in 2009 and the Indiana High School Athletic Association Distinguished Media Service Award in 2012.
He has served on the IAPME board of directors since 2015 and is currently its vice president. He is also vice president of Jay County Civic Theatre.
Ronald will continue to serve as president of the Graphic Printing Company and expects to write his weekly column “Back in the Saddle” for the foreseeable future.
During his tenure as editor, he oversaw the transition to computerization of the newsroom, pagination and establishing a role for The Commercial Review on the internet.
Recipient of more than 45 state, regional and national journalism awards, Ronald was named a Fulbright Scholar in 1998 and taught in the post-Soviet republic of Moldova at the university level for a semester there. He also served as adjunct professor of journalism at Earlham College for six years.
The Moldova experience led to nearly 20 years of work as an independent journalism consultant in a dozen countries. Much of that work was done in the independent states of the former Soviet Union but also included work in Afghanistan and Myanmar. In 2013, he was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.
In 2014, he received the Charlie Biggs Commitment to Community Award from the HSPA. In 2004, he received the Indiana Journalism Award from Ball State University “for leadership in community journalism in Indiana and efforts to promote and teach the ideals of a free press in former Soviet republics.”
He is a past president of The Portland Foundation and a past president of the Portland Area Chamber of Commerce, which named him Citizen of the Year in 2007. In 2010, he received the Lee G. Hall Award from the United Way of Jay County.
A founding director of the Jay County AIDS Task Force and the Jay County Arts Council, he continues to serve on the board of Arts Place. He served for 14 years on the board of Minnetrista in Muncie, where he was named a trustee emeritus in 2013.
He was named to The Circle of Corydon by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb in 2017.
He’ll be succeeded as publisher by Ray Cooney, who will become editor and publisher of both newspapers.
Ronald, 71, has been publisher of both newspapers since 1982. He joined The Commercial Review as a reporter in 1974 and became editor in 1977. He relinquished the title of editor to Cooney in 2014.
Cooney joined The CR as sports editor in March 2001.
During Cooney’s time as editor, The CR has consistently placed among the top three small dailies in Indiana for general excellence in Hoosier State Press Association competition, receiving first place in 2014 and 2016.
He’s won 88 awards from HSPA and the Indiana Associated Press Media Editors.
He also was honored with the Indiana Baseball Coaches Association Outstanding Baseball Media Award in 2009 and the Indiana High School Athletic Association Distinguished Media Service Award in 2012.
He has served on the IAPME board of directors since 2015 and is currently its vice president. He is also vice president of Jay County Civic Theatre.
Ronald will continue to serve as president of the Graphic Printing Company and expects to write his weekly column “Back in the Saddle” for the foreseeable future.
During his tenure as editor, he oversaw the transition to computerization of the newsroom, pagination and establishing a role for The Commercial Review on the internet.
Recipient of more than 45 state, regional and national journalism awards, Ronald was named a Fulbright Scholar in 1998 and taught in the post-Soviet republic of Moldova at the university level for a semester there. He also served as adjunct professor of journalism at Earlham College for six years.
The Moldova experience led to nearly 20 years of work as an independent journalism consultant in a dozen countries. Much of that work was done in the independent states of the former Soviet Union but also included work in Afghanistan and Myanmar. In 2013, he was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.
In 2014, he received the Charlie Biggs Commitment to Community Award from the HSPA. In 2004, he received the Indiana Journalism Award from Ball State University “for leadership in community journalism in Indiana and efforts to promote and teach the ideals of a free press in former Soviet republics.”
He is a past president of The Portland Foundation and a past president of the Portland Area Chamber of Commerce, which named him Citizen of the Year in 2007. In 2010, he received the Lee G. Hall Award from the United Way of Jay County.
A founding director of the Jay County AIDS Task Force and the Jay County Arts Council, he continues to serve on the board of Arts Place. He served for 14 years on the board of Minnetrista in Muncie, where he was named a trustee emeritus in 2013.
He was named to The Circle of Corydon by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb in 2017.
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