Ex-Bangor Publishing head elected to Hall of Fame

BANGOR – The Maine Press Association has announced the induction of four members into its Hall of Fame, including the late Lillis Towle Jordan, former chairwoman of Bangor Publishing Co.

The company publishes the Bangor Daily News.

In addition to Jordan, the MPA’s Hall of Fame Committee voted on May 12 to induct Raymond E. Gross, retired publisher of The Courier-Gazette in Rockland; David Lamb, who was a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times for more than three decades; and A. Stephen Riley, who was a reporter and editor for the Guy Gannett newspapers in Portland, Augusta and Waterville for nearly 40 years and served the MPA as executive secretary for seven.

Learning of the honor, Richard J. Warren, current BDN publisher and Jordan’s grandson, had proud words to say this week about his grandmother’s achievement.

“My grandmother would be surprised by this recognition, for she never felt she did anything extraordinary,” Warren said. “For a woman, in the late 1940s, to be thrust into the role of publisher of the Bangor Daily News and to become such a wonderful steward of the paper was a remarkable accomplishment.”

The four honorees will be inducted on Sept. 16 at the Grand Summit Resort Hotel and Conference Center at Sunday River in Newry.

The keynote speaker that night will be Lamb, who also gave the keynote speech at the 2002 Hall of Fame induction dinner.

The inductions will bring the number of MPA Hall of Fame members to 34. The Hall of Fame, based at the University of Maine, was established in 1998. It recognizes Maine newspaper professionals who make lasting career contributions to their craft, in or out of the state.

Jordan, whose family has owned and operated the BDN since 1895, was named to the hall for “the leadership, courage and determination as publisher that epitomize her family’s commitment to their newspaper,” according to the MPA press release.

“The paper has been my whole life,” Jordan said in an interview shortly before she died in 1986.

Jordan ran the paper herself after her husband, Fred Jordan, died on Nov. 12, 1947.

Even though Jordan was confronted by “all kinds of people” who wanted to buy the paper after her husband’s death, she was at his desk two days later, making sure the paper got out.

That perseverance held true even after she turned the publishing job over in 1955 to Richard K. Warren, then her son-in-law. Jordan then became active as the chairwoman of Bangor Publishing Co. until her death.

One of her hopes in life was to live long enough to see her grandson become the publisher of the BDN. That day came on March 14, 1984.

The daily newspaper, winner of numerous MPA awards for writing, photography, graphics and advertising, now serves readers in central, eastern and northern Maine.