Ray Shaw, the chairman of American City Business Journals Inc. and the most recent recipient of the SABEW Distinguished Achievement Award, died Sunday, July 19, at the age of 75, due to complications from a bee sting.
Shaw, whose company operated 40 weekly business newspapers throughout the country, was a fierce advocate for business journalism and a tireless worker. He also enjoyed working with younger people, including his two sons, who were involved in American City.
“He was thrilled to be honored this spring with the award and for his 20 years with ACBJ,” said Kirk Shaw, one of his sons and the chief financial officer at the Charlotte-based company. “He loved what he did and as we always knew worked until the end. He put in a full week last week — typical Ray Shaw.”
Shaw was born in March 1934 in Hinton, Okla., and he attended the University of Oklahoma. While in school, he began working as a reporter for the Associated Press. He never graduated because the wire service transferred him to Louisville, Ky., and then later New York.
In 1960, Shaw joined The Wall Street Journal, where he was a reporter covering the media and advertising beat. In 1963, he became the Dallas bureau chief, where he oversaw coverage of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s family businesses that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1965 for national reporting.
Shaw rose through the ranks at Dow Jones & Co., becoming its president and chief operating officer. During the 10 years that Shaw was president of Dow Jones, the company’s annual revenues more than tripled to $1.7 billion. Shaw is credited with expanding Dow Jones’ business journalism operations into international markets.
“He also was a valued friend over many years, to me and to countless other colleagues,” said Warren Phillips, the CEO of Dow Jones from 1975 to 1990. “He will be missed, personally as well as by all in his profession who have been touched and influenced by his many contributions to the role media plays in our society.”
But he retired in 1989 at the age of 55 and moved to Charlotte, where his son Whit — now executive vice president at American City — had started Shaw Publishing Co. and helped to found Business North Carolina magazine.
Shaw made an offer to purchase the Charlotte Business Journal from its parent company. Instead, with partner Ed Gaylord, he wound up buying a controlling stake in American City, which at that time had 21 papers.
Shaw built the chain up to 40 papers and sold it to Advance Publications, the parent company of the Newhouse publishing empire, for $270 million, in 1995. Shaw remained as its leader, however.
In recent years, American City has been expanding its operations into sports publications, purchasing The Sporting News, among others.
At the SABEW annual conference in Denver in April, Shaw was bullish about the future of business journalism despite the current cutbacks in newsrooms across the country, including a number of American City papers. The chain employs approximately 600 business journalists.
“We are deeply saddened by this news,” said Greg McCune, president of SABEW and the training editor at Thomson Reuters. “SABEW had just honored Ray in April with our Distinguished Achievement Award and, as always, he was graceful and humble in accepting. He was a quiet giant of business journalism and will be sorely missed, not only by his ACBJ family but by our whole profession.”
At the company’s headquarters in downtown Charlotte, workers from security guards to administrative assistants and executives came into the building Sunday due to the news and were overwhelmed at his sudden death.
“”Personally, it is shocking and difficult for me right now to think his wisdom will not be available for us anymore,” said Sougata Mukherjee, editor of the Triangle Business Journal. “God bless you, Ray Shaw, and I am honored and blessed that you have been a part of my life for almost 20 years.”
In addition to his two sons, Shaw is survived by his wife Kay and his daughter Beth.
