Las Vegas Sun publisher honored for contributions to print journalism

By Jean Reid Norman

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004 | midnight

Las Vegas Sun Publisher Barbara Greenspun was inducted into the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame Saturday night.

She joined the late Sun founder Hank Greenspun in the hall, which honors those who have made significant contributions to print journalism in Nevada.

"I am grateful to the Nevada Press Association for the wonderful honor," Barbara Greenspun said. "When my husband, Hank, and I started the Las Vegas Sun, we did not do so to win any honors or awards. We did it because the Las Vegas community needed an independent, fair-minded newspaper. Nothing has changed in the last half century.

"I am pleased to be a Hall of Famer, but I am happier that the Las Vegas Sun is still Southern Nevada's independent and fair-minded newspaper."

Greenspun "was instrumental in keeping the Sun financially alive for four decades as the 'silent' partner of husband Hank Greenspun, the fiery and crusading founder of the newspaper," the press association said in a statement.

The association noted that her "quiet persuasion" in building support for the paper helped the Sun survive a 1952 advertising boycott by Strip resorts and a fire that leveled the plant in 1963. Her determination also kept the Sun alive after her husband's death in 1989, the statement noted.

From the day in 1950 when Hank Greenspun bought the fledgling Las Vegas Free Press to provide a second journalistic voice in Las Vegas, Barbara Greenspun was at his side, helping to make ends meet.

In his autobiography, "Where I Stand," Hank describes Barbara as "a zealous combination proofreader, bookkeeper, and bill collector who worked for love rather than money."

Born Barbara Joan Ritchie in London, Barbara Greenspun met and married Hank in Ireland while Hank was serving in the Army during World War II. Hank came to Las Vegas in September 1946 and moved his family here shortly afterward.

Hank Greenspun wrote of his adopted city, "I guess it was love at first sight, something akin to the feeling that hit me when I first looked at Barbara. I reacted in typical fashion with a sudden, instinctive reaction."

Barbara Greenspun was not as enamored, recalling in the Sun's 50th anniversary edition in 2000, "It was just awful -- so barren, so desolate."

But, she said, she grew to love the city in which she became not only a successful businesswoman, but also a major philanthropist.

"Las Vegas, of course, became a wonderful community," she said. "If Hank and I in some small way helped to make it a better place, then I am happy about that."

In addition to the Sun, Barbara Greenspun worked with her husband in founding Las Vegas' first television station in 1953 (KLAS, Channel 8); its first cable television company in 1970 (now Cox Communications); and American Nevada Corp. in 1974. The latter developed the Las Vegas Valley's first master-planned community, the 8,400-acre Green Valley area of Henderson.

As a philanthropist, Barbara Greenspun has left her mark on the community. As director of the Greenspun Family Foundation, she has funneled money to education, health care, the arts and other worthy causes. She is a founding board member of the Sun Summer Camp Fund, which every year sends as many as 1,000 children to camp whose families could not afford to send them. As well, the Sun Youth Forum has thrived for 48 years with her support.

She is a member of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Foundation board of trustees and the advisory board of UNLV-TV, the university's educational channel. She is also the sponsor of the Barbara Greenspun Lecture Series at UNLV, a former board member and vice president of United Way of Southern Nevada and an original member of the Nevada Board of Chinese Medicine.

In addition, she is a patron of the arts, including the Nevada Ballet Theatre and local music and cultural groups; serves on the national board of the Simon Wiesenthal Center; is a longtime supporter of Ben Gurion University in Jerusalem; is a life member of Hadassah; and is a member of Congregation Ner Tamid.

Her work in the community has garnered her many other honors, including an honorary doctorate degree from UNLV in 1998, a Distinguished Nevadan Award in 1991 and the Judah L. Magnes Gold Medal from Hebrew University.

Two educational institutions in the Las Vegas Valley also bear the Greenspun name: The Greenspun College of Urban Affairs at UNLV, which is home of the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies, and Greenspun Junior High School in Henderson.