Leonard Tow to be Honored at CUNY Journalism School Gala

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Feb 8, 2012

The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism will honor Leonard Tow at its fifth annual Awards for Excellence in Journalism gala on May 14, 2012. Mr. Tow, a pioneer in the cable television industry, will receive the Distinguished Service to New York Award for his wide-ranging philanthropic efforts in the fields of journalism, education, medicine, the performing arts, and youth and family services. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Tow is a graduate of CUNY’s Brooklyn College and has a PhD in economics from Columbia University. He is chairman of The Tow Foundation, which is based in New Canaan, Connecticut. His daughter, Emily Tow Jackson, serves as the Foundation’s President and Executive Director.

In making the announcement of the upcoming award, CUNY J-School Dean Stephen B. Shepard praised Mr. Tow as “one of the great unsung philanthropists in New York history.” Over the years, The Tow Foundation has helped create the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, the Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College, the Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center, the Claire Tow Pediatric Pavilion at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Claire Tow Professorship in Motor Neuron Disorders at the Columbia University Medical Center. In addition, the foundation has supported medical research, public service internships, and juvenile justice programs in Connecticut.

A few years back, Mr. Tow also issued a $3 million challenge grant to the CUNY J-School, which was then matched by a $3 million grant from the Knight Foundation, leading to the establishment of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism in the fall of 2010. The Center is dedicated to helping create a sustainable future for quality journalism in three ways:

• Educating students and mid-career journalists in innovation, entrepreneurship, and business management;

• Researching topics relevant to the development of viable economic models for the new digital media;

• Funding, developing, and nurturing new journalistic enterprises.

The School’s gala will also honor Matthew Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism.