Bernard Kilgore
Encyclopedia
Bernard Kilgore was the Wall Street Journal's dominant personality practically from the moment he was appointed managing editor in 1941, at the age of 32, until his death from stomach cancer at November 14, 1967, at the age of 59, after being diagnosed in the summer of 1965. Over those years he built the paper's circulation up to 1.1 million from 33,000. He created the philosophy, news formulas, corporate organization and much of the physical infrastructure that carried the Journal's circulation even further, making it the nation's largest newspaper, with a circulation at times breaking two million. Warren H. Phillips, who became the corporation's executive editor in 1966, during his tenure as chairman of Dow Jones & Company
, said "I don't think there's any question that Kilgore was the most important figure in the newspaper's 100-year history."
In 1961 Kilgore received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy
Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College
. He, like many of his colleagues at the Wall Street Journal, was a graduate of DePauw University
in Greencastle, Indiana, where he was a longtime member of the Board of Trustees.
Dow Jones & Company
Dow Jones & Company is an American publishing and financial information firm.The company was founded in 1882 by three reporters: Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser. Like The New York Times and the Washington Post, the company was in recent years publicly traded but privately...
, said "I don't think there's any question that Kilgore was the most important figure in the newspaper's 100-year history."
In 1961 Kilgore received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy
Elijah P. Lovejoy
Elijah Parish Lovejoy was an American Presbyterian minister, journalist, newspaper editor and abolitionist. He was murdered by an opposition mob in Alton, Illinois during their attack on his warehouse to destroy his press and abolitionist materials.Lovejoy's father was a Congregational minister...
Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College
Colby College
Colby College is a private liberal arts college located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States...
. He, like many of his colleagues at the Wall Street Journal, was a graduate of DePauw University
DePauw University
DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, USA, is a private, national liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,400 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the Great Lakes Colleges Association...
in Greencastle, Indiana, where he was a longtime member of the Board of Trustees.