It is with great sadness that we at GrossePointeToday.com bring you news of the death of our founding editor and partner, Ben Burns. He was 72 and died at home in the City.
Ben had been in hospice care only a few days, after learning that a rare chronic blood disorder he had been battling for years, essential thrombocythemia, had transformed into acute myeloid leukemia. Knowing his condition was terminal, he elected to forego treatment, and went home to be with "the people, and the dogs, that I love," as he wrote in one of his final messages.
We tell you these personal details because we know Ben, a lifelong journalist, wouldn't have minded. He shared them on the Caring Bridge website set up to allow his many friends, students, colleagues and others to keep abreast of his situation.
From an early start milking dairy cattle by hand at 6 a.m. to being an all-state basketball player who was also wanted by the local police for his role in a pickle fight, Ben Burns lived a charmed life.
He learned enough about farming to know he never wanted to own dairy cattle. They never pinned the pickle fight at Aunt Jane's factory in Memphis, Michigan, on him even though he had a suspiciously briny-smelling pair of gloves to wear the rest of the winter; and he never hit his head on the rim while dunking a basketball backwards. (He stood 6-feet-5.)
Ben spent 30 years in the newspaper business when it was in its golden age, ending as executive editor of The Detroit News when it was the sixth-largest daily in the nation. He later served as editor and publisher of The Macomb Daily and the Daily Tribune of Royal Oak. He once calculated that he had written for, edited, run or published 33 daily and weekly newspapers during a career that included stops in Colorado Springs, Miami, Lansing, Chicago and Vineland, N.J.
In recent years, Ben worked as a professor of communication and director of the journalism program at Wayne State University. He founded the Journalism Institute for Media Diversity at WSU while an executive at The Detroit News, and the honors program has sent more than 250 graduates into roles ranging from communication to political offices and law firms.
He served twice as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize and judged the Livingston Awards several times. And he was co-founder of this website, declaring at the start of its run that he was interested in learning what the next chapter of journalism was all about. His good humor and curiosity about not only his craft but the world in general was always an animating force in his life and career.
He has been elected to three Halls of Fame—two journalism and one sports. He served as president of the Michigan Historical Society, vice president of the Detroit Historical Society, president of the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, secretary of Services for Older Citizens, president of the Rotary Club of Grosse Pointe, president of the Grosse Pointe Senior Men's Club, and president of the Grosse Pointe Ecumenical Men's Breakfast.
He served on a governor's commission and he was an early advisor to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who obviously ignored his counsel. He chaired the successful Grosse Pointe Library millage election in February. He was an active member of Grosse Pointe Memorial Church, having served as deacon, elder, chair of the Personnel Committee and chair of the Communications Council.
Two of his books were published this year: "Michigan Media Law, A Newsroom Guide" and "The Flying Firsts of Walter Hinton, From the First Transatlantic Flight to the Arctic and the Amazon."
He was married to his wife Beverly, right, for 38 years. She is a partner at Miller Canfield, the largest law firm in Michigan, and served for 13 years as deputy CEO. Together they were named among Michigan's Power Couples by Crain's Detroit Business, and Ben was honored by Metro Woman Magazine as one of the area's most woman-friendly men.
He leaves four adult children – Blakely, Bethany, Ben and James -- in Seattle, New York, Washington and Orlando, and six grandchildren -- Emma, Rachel, Grace, Mia, Marian and the latest addition, another Benjamin Joseph. Two more are due to arrive in December and March.
Funeral arrangements are pending. We will all miss him terribly.
– Nancy Nall Derringer, Sheila Young Tomkowiak, and the journalists,
interns and contributors of GrossePointeToday.com; biographical material from the Burns family
The family requests that anyone wishing to make a donation in his memory consider doing so to the Journalism Institute for Media Diversity. Mail gifts to: Fund Office, 5475 Woodward, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich. 48202.
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
- Send by email
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario