Douglas F. Attaway

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

Douglas Wesley "Wes" Attaway
Susan Elizabeth Attaway

Diane Kathryn Attaway Bolen
Notes
Promoted navigation of the Red River

Douglas F. "Doug" Attaway, Jr. (September 10, 1910 - February 21, 1994), was the president and publisher from 1957 to 1976 of the defunct Shreveport Journal, a daily newspaper in northwest Louisiana. He was chairman of the board of KSLA-TV, the Shreveport CBS affiliate from 1966 until the channel was sold in 1979 to Viacom. He was a former chairman of the board of Newspaper Production Company and the Attaway Newspaper Group, Inc.


Journalism career

Born in Shreveport to the Journal publisher Douglas Attaway, Sr., and the former Bessie Fisher (1884–1967), Attaway graduated from C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport and held degrees in journalism and business from the University of Missouri at Columbia, 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,[1] a position that he held until the senior Attaway's death in 1957. At that time attaway succeeded his father as the president and publisher of The Journal and remained at the helm until 1976.[2]

In 1972, Attaway wrote an article on a total eclipse, the phenomenon in which the moon totally blocks out the rays of the sun, which occurred on July 10 of that year. Attaway and his long-term photo editor, Jack Barham, traveled to New York City to observe the two-minute eclipse and located their most desirable point of view beyond the Verrazano Bridge in the Atlantic Ocean.[3]

In 1974, two years before he sold The Journal to the industrialist and philanthropist Charles T. Beaird, Attaway recruited Stanley R. Tiner from The Times as the editor of The Journal. In time, Tiner and Beaird moved the editorial position of The Journal far to the political left, whereas it had been conservative and earlier segregationist under Attaway.

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 Congress for navigation of the Red River from Alexandria to Shreveport, a program pushed by members of the Louisiana congressional delegation, particularly, U.S. Representative Joe D. Waggonner of Louisiana's 4th congressional district.

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 historic Fairfield section of Shreveport. He was survived by his wife of fifty-seven years, the former Marion Sailor (1918–1999); son, Douglas Wesley Attaway, and 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 Forest Park Cemetery in Shreveport.

References

  1. ↑ John Andrew Prime, "Former Journal publisher dies at age 83", Shreveport Times", February 22, 1994
  2. ↑ "Shreveport Journal Collection (1921-1990)". lsus.edu. Retrieved June 13, 2012. 
  3. ↑ "Douglas Attaway and Jack Barham, "Eclipse Splendor: Two Minutes of History," July 28, 1972". nauticom.net from The Shreveport Journal. Retrieved June 13, 2012. 
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