Douglas F. Attaway

Douglas F. "Doug" Attaway, Jr.
Born September 10, 1910(1910-09-10)
Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana USA
Died February 21, 1994(1994-02-21) (aged 83)
Shreveport
Nationality American
Occupation Newspaper publisher; Television station owner
Religion Baptist
Spouse Marion Sailor Attaway (Married 1936-his death)
Children

Douglas Wesley "Wes" Attaway
Susan Elizabeth Attaway

Diane Kathryn Attaway Bolen
Notes
Promoted navigation of Red River

Douglas F. "Doug" Attaway, Jr., was president and publisher of the defunct Shreveport Journal (1957–1976), a daily newspaper in northwest Louisiana. He was chairman of the board of KSLA-TV, the Shreveport, Louisisana CBS affiliate from 1966 until the channel was sold to Viacom in 1979. He was a former chairman of the board of Newspaper Production Company and the Attaway Newspaper Group, Inc.

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Early years

Born in Shreveport to Journal publisher Douglas Attaway, Sr., and the former Bessie Fisher (1884–1967), he graduated from C.E. Byrd High School and held degrees in journalism and business from the University of Missouri. He joined the staff of The Journal in 1934 as an advertising proof runner. He became an ad salesman, assistant bookkeeper and reporter and became managing editor in December 1941, a position that he held until the senior Attaway's death in 1957.

Civic Organizations

Attaway was a member of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, and the original board of the Red River Navigation Association, a private trade association which successfully lobbied the Congress for navigation of the Red River from Alexandria to Shreveport, the largest city in northwestern Louisiana.

Attaway was affiliated with Kappa Alpha Order fraternity, Rotary International, Downtown Shreveport Unlimited, Coastal Gun Club, American Bowling Congress, Boy Scouts of America, the Shreveport Club, the Petroleum Club of Shreveport, American Newspaper Publishers Association, Texas Daily Newspaper Association, and Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. He was the 1968 Cotillion King of the annual Holiday In Dixie celebration. In 1965, he was named "Shreveport's Best Salesman".

Death and legacy

Attaway died at his home in the Fairfield section of Shreveport. He was survived by his wife of 57 years, the former Marion Sailor (1918–1999); son, Douglas Wesley Attaway, daughters Susan Elizabeth Attaway and Diane Kathryn Attaway Bolen.

The Attaways are remembered through the Douglas and Marion Attaway Professorships in Civic Culture at Centenary College, where he was a trustee. Rose Van Thyn, a survivor of the Holocaust, held one of the fellowships. There is also the Douglas F. and Marion S. Attaway Charitable Income Trust Fund and Doug Attaway Boulevard near Louisiana Highway 1 in Shreveport.

The Attaways are interred in Section V, Block 162, at the large Forst Park Cemetery in Shreveport.

References