Ronald H. MacDonald, 75, dies;
taught journalism for 32 years
Ronald H. MacDonald, who taught Journalism and Mass Communications at Washington and Lee for more than three decades, died Thursday, July 3 in Lexington. He was 75.
MacDonald arrived at W&L in 1969 after nearly two decades as a broadcast journalist. For 13 years he was a reporter, news director and anchor at WDBJ Channel 7 in Roanoke, where he led the station to three Douglas Southall Freeman Awards for public service and five Best News Operation of the Year citations from the Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters.
His impact on journalism education at W&L was immediate and substantial. He greatly expanded news coverage at WLUR-FM, the radio station operated by the Journalism Department, and demanded professional standards of its student reporters and program hosts. For several years the station was the Lexington community’s only daily source of local news.
MacDonald also introduced a television news curriculum and regular television broadcasts to the campus. For many years, he also coordinated the department’s internship program, supervising more than 700 interns.
“Ron’s contribution to our program at Washington and Lee cannot be overstated,” said Department Head Brian Richardson ’73, who was among MacDonald’s hundreds of students. “He was an innovator, but when it came to showing us the importance of truth, fairness, accuracy and good writing, he was the staunchest traditionalist. His legacy is the journalists he taught, and the impact they have had on the profession.”
MacDonald’s journalism alumni went on to the news divisions of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and numerous local television and radio stations, as well as the Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and others.
"For me and generations of W&L journalism students, Ron MacDonald was the journalist we aspired to be," said Tom Mattesky '74, who retired in September 2007 as deputy bureau chief for CBS News in Washington. "He was ethically and morally uncompromising, and he was unbending in his belief that the search for the truth mattered."
MacDonald was born August 27, 1932 in Barre, Vt., where he graduated from high school in 1950. He married his high-school sweetheart, Pat Calcagni, in 1953 and graduated cum laude from Boston University in 1954. He worked at stations in Vermont and Boston from 1951 until 1956 as a reporter, writer, announcer, anchor and program director.
He moved to Roanoke in 1956, where he worked for WDBJ’s radio and television operations at a time when television news was still in its infancy. (To watch WDBJ’s coverage of MacDonald’s death, go to http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=8619233 ) At WDBJ MacDonald served as a reporter, anchor, assignment editor, assistant news director and news director before leaving to become an associate professor of journalism at Washington and Lee. He was appointed full professor in 1975. For 10 years, from 1974-1984, he served as department head.
MacDonald was the author of A Broadcast Manual of Style, which became a standard for the local television news industry. MacDonald’s successor at Washington and Lee, Claudette Artwick, had used his book before coming to W&L.
“It’s the best in the business,” she said at the time.
In 1974, with Professor Emeritus Lou Hodges, MacDonald created a course in journalism ethics. It was the beginning of what became a significant focus of journalism education programs across the nation. In 1997, MacDonald’s and Hodges’ efforts were rewarded when the university was endowed with the Knight Chair in Journalism Ethics by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
MacDonald retired in 2001 but continued to live in Lexington and took an active interest in the department. He had been in failing health for several years.
MacDonald is survived by his wife of nearly 55 years, Pat, son Bradley, daughter-in-law Sandra and step-granddaughter Sara. At MacDonald’s request, there will be no service. Alumni wishing to contact Pat MacDonald may write to her at 5 Courtland Center, Lexington VA 24450.
Alumni wishing to share comments about or remembrances of Ron MacDonald are encouraged to submit them to Department Head Brian Richardson at richardsonb@wlu.edu. We will share them with other journalism alumni.