Trenton Republican-Times publisher Wendell Lenhart and four others with ties to community newspapers in Missouri will be inducted in September into the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame.
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The induction program will be Friday, Sept. 6 during the 147th annual Convention of the Missouri Press Association at the Marriott Downtown in Kansas City.
In addition to Lenhart, other inductees are the late Henry F. Childers of Troy, the late Robert E. “Bob” Cobb of King City, Jane Duncan Flink of Ashland and the late Edwin Q. White, a native of Tipton.
Inductees are chosen from among people nominated by friends, associates and family members. Induction is based on a long career of sound, ethical journalism and service to the Missouri newspaper industry and the community.
This will be the 23rd group to be inducted into the Newspaper Hall of Fame, which was established by MPA in 1991.
Inductees or members of their families receive Pinnacle Awards. Plaques with their likenesses are on permanent display in the MPA office in Columbia and in the student lounge in Lee Hills Hall at the Missouri School of Journalism.
Lenhart is a second-generation president of the Missouri Press Association. Lenhart, publisher of the Trenton Republican-Times in north-central Missouri, served as MPA president in 2001.
His father, the late William O. Lenhart, served as MPA president in 1981. The elder Lenhart died in 1983, which led to his son moving from the general manager position to publisher of the daily newspaper, in which his family has had ownership since 1963.
Lenhart served as president of the Northwest Missouri Press Association in 1987-1988, and president of the Missouri Associated Dailies in 1989-1990.
A co-worker said Lenhart “truly exemplifies what leading a ‘community newspaper’ is all about, keeping Trenton and the surrounding area informed as to what is happening in the area and serving as a voice of the community through his editorials.”
Lenhart has led a number of community organizations, serving as president of the Wright Memorial Hospital Board of Directors, president of the Trenton Downtown Improvement Association, chairman of the North Central Missouri College Foundation, and co-chair of the college’s “Invest in the Vision” fundraising campaign that resulted in construction and development of a classroom complex. He is a former member of the Missouri Ethics Commission.
In 2001, Lenhart said people disenchanted with the national media make a distinction between their local newspaper and the national media. That distinction results from the involvement of a local newspaper and its publisher helping to find solutions to its community’s problems.
(information provided by the Missouri Press Association)