Robert C. Maynard

As a young man, Robert C. Maynard dreamed of being a newspaper reporter, but back in the 1950s newspapers were either not hiring “Negro” reporters or already had their one black reporter on staff. Undaunted, Maynard sent out 200 resumes,  eventually landing a job at the York Gazette and Daily. In 1966 he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and moved on to the Washington Post in 1967. During his ten year career at the Post, Maynard distinguished himself as a national reporter, ombudsman and then a member of the editorial board. In 1979, he was named editor of the  Oakland Tribune, becoming the first African American to head a major metropolitan newspaper and in 1983, he and his wife, Nancy, purchased the paper, making them the first African Americans to own a major metropolitan newspaper.

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