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Edward J. Meeman's biography
The year was 1907, and a 17-year old boy, just about out of high school went looking for a job at the Evansville Press. The editor gave Edward J. Meeman a job, later saying the reason was because the young boy ran up the steps three at a time.
Eventually, Meeman became managing editor of the paper — and that was just the beginning. In 1921 Meeman was chosen by Robert Scripps to start a new paper in Knoxville, Tenn. Within five years, the Knoxville News had grown so rapidly it bought and merged with the 40-year old Knoxville Sentinel, becoming the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Five years later, Meeman became editor of another Scripps-Howard newspaper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar.
Meeman was a conservationist, an outdoorsman, and strived to help preserve natural resources. He crusaded for the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and was instrumental in the struggle to bring the Tennessee Valley Authority power to Memphis in the early 1930’s.
In 1949, Meeman established the Edward J. Meeman Foundation to insure his money would work for what he felt was important far after he was gone. Included in his objectives were good journalism and promoting the conservation of natural resources. From this foundation arose the establishment of the Meeman Archives, which recently moved from the University of Michigan to Michigan State University.
Meeman gave up his duties as editor of the Press-Scimitar in 1962, becoming editor emeritus, as well as the Scripps-Howard Conservation Editor. In 1966, Meeman died of a heart attack at the age of 77. But his legacy will live on through his foundation and the Archive, that MSU hopes will become an invaluable resource of environmental journalism to students and journalists around the world.
The Edward J. Meeman Award for Environmental Journalism
Edward J. Meeman's biography