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Newspaper publisher, Cleveland philanthropist to receive honorary degrees
Oct. 19, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University will award honorary degrees Friday (Oct. 20) to Scott C. Schurz, the publisher of several Indiana newspapers, and Barbara B. Jacobs, a former owner of Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians.
Schurz and Jacobs will receive their degrees during a ceremony to rededicate Showalter House, the headquarters building for the IU Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation that serves IU by raising funds from the private sector and providing stewardship and administrative services for donors and for IU. The ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the IU Foundation, located on the Indiana 45/46 bypass.
Schurz is president of HoosierTimes Inc., a subsidiary of Schurz Communications Inc., of which he is vice president. He is publisher and editor-in-chief of The Herald-Times and The Sunday Herald-Times in Bloomington, The Times-Mail in Bedford, The Southside Times in Beech Grove, The Times in Mooresville and The Reporter in Martinsville.
He has served on the boards of numerous national and international press associations including the Newspaper Association of America, the Inter-American Press Association and the World Association of Newspapers.
He has served as president of the International Newspaper Marketing Association and also is a member of the International Press Institute, the World Press Freedom Committee, the American Newspaper Publishers Association and the Newspaper Advertising Bureau. He received distinguished service awards from the Hoosier State Press Association and the Inland Daily Press Association, both of which he served as president.
Although not an IU alumnus, Schurz has been an exceptional supporter of and advocate for IU and is a devoted community leader in Bloomington. A director of the IU Foundation since 1986, he has also served as president of the Alumni Interfraternity Council, the Varsity Club board of directors, and the Friends of Music board of directors.
In addition, Schurz chaired the IU Foundation Annual Giving Program, the Ernie Pyle Hall Renovation campaign and the Knight Library Endowment. Mr. Schurz also is treasurer and vice president of the Friends of the Kinsey Institute.
Jacobs, who was co-owner of the Cleveland Indians until earlier this year, earned a bachelor of science degree from the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington in 1948. She has been known for many years, along with her late husband, David, as a civic and cultural leader in Cleveland and in Florida. Through her longstanding service to numerous organizations, she has supported the arts, education, hospitals, health associations, human services and churches in both areas.
The diversity of her commitments ranges from working as a hospital volunteer to serving on the boards of the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge, the Fairview/Lutheran Foundation, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Playhouse, among many others.
Jacobs has devoted an astonishing degree of energy to supporting IU. She has endowed faculty chairs, student financial aid, and research and development funds across the university. Among her many contributions are the David H. Jacobs Chair in Infectious Disease at the IU School of Medicine; the Barbara B. Jacobs Endowed Professorship Awards to recognize achievements in musicianship, scholarship and teaching; and the Barbara B. Jacobs Chair of Education and Technology at IU Bloomington.
She has served on the IU Foundation's board of directors since 1989 and is national co-chair for the IU Bloomington Endowment Campaign. For these and many other instances of volunteer service and support, she previously was honored with IU's Thomas Hart Benton Mural Medallion.
(Barbara Coffman, IU Foundation, 812-855-1422, coffman@indiana.edu)