The family of a Blade newspaperman and former Campus Collegian editor who passed away in 2011 will honor his memory and his contributions to Toledo and to the University with the establishment of a scholarship fund.
John Grigsby, who worked 50 years at The Blade, was the marshal of a firefighter’s convention parade in Gibsonburg, Ohio, and waved to the crowd as Jim Ruggiero drove in 1987. This photo is courtesy of The Blade.
The endowment will provide annual scholarships for three editorial positions at The Independent Collegian, a student-run newspaper that covers The University of Toledo.
“My father was the editor of The Campus Collegian in 1935 and 1936 and always said the knowledge, experience and friendships he got from his time there were among the most rewarding of his career,” said Richard Grigsby, John N. Grigsby’s son who worked with his mother, Margaret, and the rest of the family to establish the fund.
“He graduated from UT in 1936 and got a job at The Toledo Blade the very next day. He has always had a really warm place in his heart for the Collegian and expressed a wish to help them in some way,” Grigsby said.
Dan Saevig, UT associate vice president for alumni relations, said he thought the donation was a fitting tribute to John Grigsby’s life, career and contributions to the region.
“For more than 50 years, Toledo was illuminated by John’s words and the facts and stories he brought to light,” Saevig said. “I think it is fitting that this gift will go to help pay for the educations of current students looking to follow his career path and provide the same service to UT today and other communities in the future.”
“This gift means a lot to the editorial staff that works so hard to publish an award-winning newspaper each week. It assists our students in achieving their educational goals, and it honors the memory of one of our former editors,” said J.R. Hoppenjans, chair of The Independent Collegian’s board, the Collegian Media Foundation.
In an obituary published Jan. 14, 2011, in The Blade, the newspaper’s publisher John Robinson Block said, “If there was a Pulitzer Prize for an all-around great reporter, it would have went to John Grigsby. Most of his work was done in an era before the vanity byline, but he was one of the very best reporters The Blade ever had.”
