Former UMD Journalism Dean Celebrated for Devotion to Civil Rights, Profession

Reese Cleghorn's son, the Rev. John Cleghorn (left) and University of Maryland President C. Daniel Mote Jr. talk at the service. More photos in a Newsline slide show. (Newsline photos by Vicki Kriz)

Related Links: Cleghorn Obituary from the Philip Merrill College Library of America Biography Washington Post Obituary

By Robert Klemko
Maryland Newsline
Thursday, March 26, 2009

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Family, friends and former colleagues gathered Thursday to celebrate the life of Reese Cleghorn, a former dean of the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism who is credited with building the school’s reputation to be among the best in the nation.

Cleghorn died in his Washington home March 16 of complications from heart disease. He was 78.

Mourners spoke of Cleghorn’s commitment to journalism as an editorial writer in Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., in the 1960s and '70s, and during his 19-year turn as head of the college from 1981 to 2000.
 
“Reese was a Presbyterian, but his religion went beyond the church to journalism,” said Gene Roberts, a University of Maryland professor who covered the civil rights movement in the South alongside Cleghorn.

“He was, I am convinced, 20th century America’s most successful journalism dean,” Roberts said. “He was a rare, special soul. His life made a difference.”

University of Maryland President C. Daniel Mote Jr. counted himself as one of Cleghorn’s friends and credited the former dean with transforming the reputation of the journalism school.

“He basically turned the college around and set it on a course to being a great place,” Mote said in an interview after the service. “He recruited the best in journalism professionals. He’s the reason there are seven Pulitzer Prize winners on the faculty. His vision and his ethical standards will be lasting among all who knew him.”

Richard Campbell flew in from Charlotte, N.C., to sing at Reese Cleghorn's memorial service. (Newsline photo by Leila Taha)

Cleghorn’s son, the Rev. John Cleghorn of the Caldwell Memorial Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C., led the more than 150 attendees in the service at the campus’ Memorial Chapel.

Richard Campbell, a singer at that church, movingly performed “I Will Trust in the Lord.”

Campbell said afterward that he met Cleghorn three months ago after the 78-year-old heard him sing at his son’s church. He said Cleghorn told him, “You’re going to sing at my funeral.”

Blunt and focused is how many of Cleghorn’s friends described him.

“Reese was a man of clearly stated intentions who walked the talk in everything he did,” said Hodding Carter III, a former Knight chair at the college and a speaker at the service.

"He was a do-it-now person," said University System of Maryland Chancellor William E. Kirwan in an interview. "He was an unusually valuable confidant because he was very smart and very direct."

Cleghorn began his career in journalism at Emory University in Atlanta as editor of the school newspaper. Peggy Callcott knew Cleghorn as an undergraduate student when she was in graduate school.

“Even then, he was the big man on campus,” she said.

After graduating from Emory, Cleghorn earned a master's degree in public law and government at Columbia University in 1956.

He returned south as an editorial writer for the Atlanta Journal, where he was an influential advocate of the civil rights movement. Cleghorn was co-author of the 1967 book, “Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Arrival of Negroes in Southern Politics.”

“He was a passionate journalist who came up in a time when the South was changing,” said Carl Stepp, a University of Maryland professor who considered Cleghorn a mentor. “His commitment to what was right was exceptional, and his integrity was giant.”

After a stint with the Charlotte Observer and while associate editor of the Detroit Free Press, Cleghorn accepted the job with the College of Journalism in 1981. He recruited a bevy of well-known journalists, helped create the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, and acquired the job of publishing the American Journalism Review.

 “The college was his,” said Steve Crane, assistant dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. “He set the direction 30 years ago. The journalism building’s got Merrill’s name on it, but it’s got Reese’s heart.”

--Maryland Newsline's Leila Taha contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Top of Page | Home Page