Categories: OLD Media Moves

Business journalism pioneer Keough needs medical care

Don Keough, probably the most influential editor in the history of business journals, is seriously ill and needs help to receive the medical care he needs.

Keough was key player in the development of more than 20 local business newspapers around the country. He founded American City Business Journals in the early 1980s with backing from investors. He later was editor and publisher of the San Francisco Business Times.

Keough was also an influential player in the business journal operation run by Mark Vittert, who founded the Philadelphia Business Journal, in the early 1980s.

In 1989, when he was publisher of the Los Angeles Business Journal, he resigned to move to Australia to run a business publishing venture.

Keough, who now lives in Puerto Rico, suffered a heart attack on Sept. 14. He needs medical transport to Syracuse, New York, where his daughter lives.

Information on how you can contribute to help Keough can be found here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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  • Thank you so much for this post, Chris. Don Keough was singlehandedly responsible for training and inspiring an entire generation of young journalists who set out to change the way business journalism was practiced in the 1980s. It's no exaggeration to say he is "probably the most influential editor in the history of business journals..." His impact continues to be felt even today.

  • Don was a mentor to me when he was News Director at WDAF-TV in Kansas City. I hope is is doing well in his recovery. He was a good work colleague.

  • Don gave me a break in my career in television news. I lost track of him over the years and just saw this post from 2016. Any word on Don now in February 2020

  • I've only just seen this post too. Don was someone I came to admire when he came to Australia to start up a business publication in Brisbane. I was working in Marketing & Comms in property and we partnered and collaborated on a few things. He was such a pleasure to work with. I hope he's still alive and kicking and enjoying life, preferably with his family around him. If anyone knows how he's going I'd love to hear any news.

  • I met Don late in 89 when I was hired to the graphics dept of the LABJ. I remember the very first time I met him very clearly. The day I started, the graphics dept had met a goal for the previous month and Don walked in and gave everyone a $100 dollar bill. He looked at me and said "do I know you? Do you work here? I replied no you do not and yes I do. Today is my first day. He then said well here you go and handed me a $100 dollar bill. I reminded him I just started and was not a part of the group that earned this money. He looked at me and said "we just hired you correct? I said yes you did. He then said "im not going to fault you for starting a month late to get the bonus so here you go" now make it up this month and get to work. I had the pleasure of speaking with him often over the next little while before he left for Australia. Anyone who knows him may remember his wisdom on the three F's. Great guy and was super nice to me before I earned it.

  • I met Don in the early 1970s when I was working with the late Tom Williams on a political campaign.. I lost track of him as I moved on to national campaigns in the middle of that decade, and then Nixon’s… tonight, I discovered this article, having wondered many times where Don had got off to… this brings hm to within five years, and I am real curious as to what has happened to him ….

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