Remembering Frank A. Daniels, Jr.

Frank A. Daniels Jr. ’53, the legendary former president and publisher of The News & Observer, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, passed away June 30, 2022, leaving behind a storied legacy to North Carolina journalism and at UNC Hussman.

Under the direction of Daniels, The News & Observer was recognized widely as one of the best state capital newspapers in America and a leading progressive voice in the South. In the 1980s, instead of fighting efforts to require recycled content in newspaper printing, Daniels created The News & Observer Recycling Company with the goal of picking up and recycling every newspaper they delivered.

Daniels led The News & Observer through early innovations in digital publishing, launching The News & Observer Times in 1994 as the first online newspaper the same year he started Nando.net, the first commercial internet service provider. The News & Observer won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1996.

Daniels has been a stalwart supporter of education in North Carolina. As a member of the Raleigh Junior Chamber of Commerce, he was part of the group that engineered the merger of the Raleigh and Wake County Public School systems that enabled the systems to integrate successfully and become one of the leading large school systems in the country. Daniels has served on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and as a trustee at the Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina, Appalachian State University, Saint Mary's College and Peace College.

Daniels is a 1996 inductee to the NC Media & Journalism Hall of Fame. In 2020, the Frank A. Daniels Jr. Executive-in-Residence Program was established at the school in his honor.

Memorial contributions may be made to the North Carolina Museum of History Associates, 5 East Edenton St., Raleigh, NC 27601; or The Frank A. Daniels, Jr. Executive in Residence Program, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, CB 3365, Carroll Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
 

Read Daniels' obit in The News & Observer.

Members of the UNC Hussman community who knew Daniels well are reflecting on his legacy:

“We first met in the late 1980s. I was a young publisher, and he was a publisher too, but one who had grown up in the business. We met at the American Newspaper Publisher Association. Lo and behold I got the chance to lead The News & Observer in January of 2000. It was a true honor. I  have to tell you that Frank [and his wife Julia]  made our transition here seamless. They were like family, welcoming us here. I’ll always be appreciative and grateful. The thing that I loved most about Frank. He’d always tell you where he stood.”

— Orage Quarles III, News & Observer publisher, 2000 - 2016

“Frank had the kind of mind that cut through the clutter that makes others vague or indecisive. People knew not to ask for his opinion unless they wanted the unvarnished truth. When he saw that the future for newspapers was being undermined by the internet, he sold the paper he loved, that had been in his family for more than a century, and that had provided him with a powerful job he was very good at. His sale of The News & Observer in 1995 for $373 million has to count as one of the great business decisions in the history of publishing.”

— Wyndham Robertson, former assistant managing editor of Fortune magazine, former business editor of Time magazine and former vice president for communications of the UNC System

“I met Frank when I was a young reporter in the 1980s and then got to know him better 20 years later when I returned as managing editor and, later, as executive editor. Frank never hesitated to pass on a tip or offer guidance. He was generous with his time and was always interested in what was going on in the newsroom. Frank had strong opinions, but I also found him to be a good listener who asked good, direct questions. He was supportive and collegial (and he always paid for lunch). The Daniels family owned The News & Observer for 100 years and built it into not just a Raleigh institution but a North Carolina institution. Frank was proud of the newspaper and the role it played in North Carolina."

— John Drescher ’83, managing editor of The News & Observer, 2002 - 2007, executive editor of The News & Observer, 2007 - 2018

“Frank was a real modernizer, from both the business and the news side. The N&O became a much more muscular, classic American 20th century newspaper during [his tenure]. The newspaper became more metropolitan as the Research Triangle grew. All of that repositioning was under Frank’s guidance. He was an important industry leader not only within N.C. but also nationally.”

— Ferrel Guillory, UNC Hussman professor emeritus and columnist and reporter at The News & Observer, 1972 - 1995