We’re excited to share that Cavalier Daily Alumni Association Financial Advisory Chair George Rodrigue has been named president of Plain Dealer Publishing Co., based out of Brooklyn and Cleveland, Ohio.
Rodrigue will remain editor of the award-winning Ohio newspaper The Plain Dealer, which is operated by Plain Dealer Publishing Co., according to a report published on Cleveland.com. He took over this editorial role in January 2015.
Rodrigue’s past jobs include managing editor of The Dallas Morning News, executive editor of California-based The Press-Enterprise, and a Washington correspondent and foreign correspondent for The Dallas Morning News. In his time as a reporter, Rodrigue has won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, as well as a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting as a part of a larger team.
Rodrigue spent all four years at the University, from which he graduated in 1978, involved with The Cavalier Daily. He filled many roles, from reporter to various editorial positions, eventually becoming Editor-in-Chief.
“It’s fair to say that The Cavalier Daily was the only real training I had in journalism before I got my first job as a professional reporter,” says Rodrigue. “I was lucky to be there at a time when we had so many interesting things to cover, and so many great coaches and mentors on the staff. We wrote a lot of stories back then, and the editors worked with us to make them as close to ‘professional’ as humanly possible.”
He credits the skills he learned in his time with the paper, as well as the colleagues and friends he made along the way, for his success in the field. Rodrigue lists many names of “incredibly caring editors” and colleagues that he wishes to thank, including Chris Kohan, Bob Garsson, Sam Barnes, Debbie Galant, Dusty Melton, Marjorie Leedy, Virginia Mentzer, Jim Grossberg, Jim Reagan, Kip Coons, Chuck Fadely, Mike Vitez, Nancy Kenney, Bob Godec and Scott Weinberger.
Most importantly, he mentions Wendy Meyer, his wife, whom he met in the CD offices and later married in 1979.
According to Rodrigue, making money in journalism will never be easy, so he encourages potential journalists to “do it for love – of seeing the world as it is, of telling the truth, of making a difference.”
As much work as the field is, Rodrigue ends on a positive note, saying, “I still feel lucky to be allowed to be in the profession… and grateful to all those Cavalier Daily staff members who gave me a start.”