Special to SABEW
Kenneth Baldwin Jr. has pledged $100,000 in support of expansion plans to train a new generation of business editors and writers in the United States and Canada.
Baldwin’s four-year pledge to SABEW reflects his foundational belief that business journalism matters to people. And he’s backed that up with previous donations to SABEW and the University of South Carolina journalism program.
“With his gifts, Ken is solidifying his vision that we have knowledgeable people who can report on, explain and translate the impact of business on our daily lives,” said Fred Monk, a Baldwin friend and former SABEW president.
“He is setting a course for the University of South Carolina journalism and mass communications program to encourage students to consider a career in business journalism and sees SABEW as part of this vision,” said Monk.
SABEW will leverage Baldwin’s pledge to strengthen fundraising, fulfill a vision of international expansion starting with Canada, and build participation in monthly teletraining programs.
“We are honored that Ken sees SABEW as his partner in building a strong future for business journalism,” said SABEW President Marty Wolk, managing editor of MSN Money. “And we are very excited to kick off SABEW Canada this fall thanks, in part, to Ken’s pledge.”
Baldwin contributed $500,000 in 2009 to the University of South Carolina to endow business journalism teaching, and this year he gave another $500,000 to the school to establish a teaching fellowship for business journalists.
Baldwin, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, worked on newspapers and radio stations in that state before joining the Norfolk, VA, newspapers where he was a reporter and business editor before moving into the management ranks. He later moved to the company’s newspapers in Greensboro, NC, as the company expanded and became Landmark Communications.
During his career, he became an executive shareholder, retiring in 1986 after 30 years with the privately-held company. Landmark, which is now known as Landmark Media Enterprises, is the company that developed the Weather Channel, which it sold about five years ago.
