Jane See White, Dedicated and Decorated Journalist, Dies

Jane See White

SPRINGDALE, Ark., January 30, 2023 (Newswire.com) - Jane See White died January 11, 2023. She was 72. The Mexico, Missouri native had an award-winning 40-plus year career in newspaper and magazine journalism, including national reporting and editing with the Associated Press, and teaching journalism as part of  the University of Arizona School of Journalism.

White was the daughter of Robert Mitchell White II and Barbara Whitney Spurgeon.

At the age of nine White began a dedicated journalism career as the founding Editor and Publisher of The Mexico (Missouri) Junior Ledger. The summer weekly newspaper covered neighborhood news, but ceased publication when White began spending her summers at Camp Bryn Afon in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

She graduated from Mexico High School, then in 1972, from Hollins College with honors and a BA in History and American Studies.

Upon graduation from Hollins College, White spent two years as a reporter for The Roanoke Times then moved back to Missouri as a feature writer for The Kansas City Star. There she earned awards for an investigative series regarding state-run schools for the mentally disabled, and another related to state psychiatric hospitals.

In 1976 she transitioned to the Associated Press in New York City as an editor on the World Desk. From 1978 to 1981 she was also part of an AP six-person national writing team, writing feature news stories for datelines around the country. Her work included covering the Love Canal toxic crisis, exposing and examining the early controversy over the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange.

Peter Arnett, awarded the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting, and known broadly for his coverage of the Vietnam and Gulf Wars, was a colleague of White's at the Associated Press. "I had the good fortune to be based in AP Headquarters as a Special Correspondent during the 1970s when Jane was steadily building her journalism career," Arnett recently wrote.  ". . . touching tributes to Jane White on her purposeful life in journalism and her recent untimely death brought back memories of not only working with her, but also of Jane's sparkling personality and her moxie, a very American word of that era used to describe courage and determination."

White joined Medical Economics magazine as a writer in 1982. Her progression with the publication included Professional Editor, News / Bureaus Editor and Head of the Editorial Division for the national bi-weekly non-clinical publication.

In 1987, her passion for newspaper journalism led her back to Virginia and The Roanoke Times and World News where she was the Deputy City Editor, then City Editor. Her responsibilities included daily and Sunday news coverage by 40 reporters and six assistant city editors.

White moved to Arizona in 1991, holding various writing and editing roles for The Phoenix Gazette and The Arizona Republic, including Features Editor and Assistant Managing Editor.

From 2006 until her retirement in 2014, White was an Editor and editorial writer for The Arizona Daily Star. Editorials White researched and wrote won first-place prizes from the Arizona Press Club, the Arizona Newspapers Association, and were included in nomination for the Pulitzer Prize.

Between 1997 and 2014, White also shared her expertise and passion for journalism with future journalists, as an adjunct Professor with the University of Arizona School of Journalism.