John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists

Former Fellow Cole Campbell Killed

Nevada crash claims journalism dean's life

The former and current directors of the John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists at Stanford said they were shocked and saddened by the death of Cole Campbell, a former fellow in the program who was dean of the journalism school at the University of Nevada, Reno. Campbell died in a car crash on Friday, January 5.

"This is very sad and a great loss for journalism," said James V. Risser, director at the time Campbell was a Knight Fellow in 1989-90. "Cole was an out-of-the-box thinker who always came up with some of the most interesting ideas about journalistic performance and about the future of journalism. He was equally innovative as a Knight Fellow and challenged the staff and his fellow fellows with fascinating ideas. I'm sure he did the same as an educator."

James R. Bettinger, current director, said that Campbell prided himself on being an agent of change, and that he had been an early and strong advocate of the civic journalism projects that a number of journalism organizations tried in the 1990s. "This didn't always make him popular with those who resisted those efforts, but I always thought that he really wanted to make journalism serve the public better," Bettinger said.

Campbell came to the Knight Fellowships from the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record. He later was editor of the Norfolk (VA) Virginian-Pilot and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A memorial fund in Campbell's name has been established at the University of Nevada, Reno. Checks should be made out to "University of Nevada, Reno Foundation" and sent to:

University of Nevada, Reno Foundation
Cole Campbell Memorial Fund
Mail Stop 162
Reno, Nevada 89557

Reno Gazette-Journal news story:

© Stanford University