James Batten
James Knox Batten (January 11, 1936 – June 24, 1995)[1] was an American journalist and publisher. He was chief executive officer of Knight-Ridder publishing. A native of Suffolk, Virginia, he studied chemistry and biology at Davidson College and began working as a journalist for the Charlotte Observer in 1957. He joined Knight-Ridder's Washington, D.C. bureau in 1965 and covered the Civil Rights Movement. He became City Editor of the Detroit Free Press in 1971, then returning to Charlotte, N.C. in 1972 as Executive Editor. He moved to the company's corporate headquarters in Miami in 1975, becoming company president in 1982. Batten became chairman of Knight Ridder on October 1, 1989, succeeding Alvah Chapman, Jr.[2]
Batten was a member of the Non-Group, a civically influential group of Miami-Dade business elites.[3]
He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994.[4] The same year, he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and survived one year. He died in Miami aged 59.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "James K. Batten". Florida Death Index, 1877-1998. Ancestry.com. Retrieved May 28, 2011.(subscription required)
- ^ via Associated Press. "Knight-Ridder Officers Shifted ", The New York Times, August 26, 1989. Accessed December 29, 2008.
- ^ "New Rivals Challenge Old Guard". The Miami Herald. February 1, 1988. p. 10A. Retrieved April 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
- ^ Glaberson, William (June 26, 1995). "James K. Batten, 59, Knight-Ridder Chairman". The New York Times. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
External links
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- 1936 births
- 1995 deaths
- Deaths from brain cancer in Florida
- Davidson College alumni
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- American newspaper executives
- People from Suffolk, Virginia
- Knight Ridder
- Detroit Free Press people
- The Charlotte Observer people
- 20th-century American writers
- Journalists from Virginia
- 20th-century American journalists
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century American male journalists
- Non-Group members
- American journalist, 1930s birth stubs
- American publisher (people) stubs