The Black Family has announced that David Black, president and majority owner of Black Press, is retiring after a long and distinguished career leading the company.
Black retires as a pillar of Canadian print media, having founded Black Press in 1975 when he purchased The Williams Lake Tribune. Over the years, and in various roles from publisher, to CEO, to president, Black grew the business to include more than 170 newspapers and 14 regional websites, serving communities and readers across British Columbia, Alberta, Canada's North, Washington State, Alaska and Hawaii. Today, Black Press' publications continue to focus on locally based, community driven news, providing local journalism to serve readers and advertisers, and employment and job growth opportunities for thousands of valued employees.
His dedication to Black Press was matched by his substantial volunteer efforts, where his work on behalf of many worthy causes is renowned. Within our industry, Black served as president of the British Columbia and Yukon Community Newspaper Association, as a director of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and as a governor of the Canadian Newspaper Association.
Black also served as the chair of the B.C. Progress Board, which was tasked with benchmarking B.C. over time and relative to other jurisdictions, and with providing strategic advice to the premier on measures to improve provincial economic performance and the well-being of British Columbians. He was appointed to the B.C. Competition Council, and was also recognized as the Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year by the University of Victoria.
From 1987 to 1989, Black chaired the Victoria team that won the rights to the 1994 Commonwealth Games for Victoria and Canada. From 1994 to 2001, he served as a director of Pacific Sport, a trust that manages the $15 million sport training fund generated by the Commonwealth Games. From 1991 to 1996, he served as the founding chairman of the board of advisors for the University of Victoria's Gustavson School of Business. He also served as president of his Rotary Club and chaired the Northern British Columbia Winter Games.
On behalf of Black, the Black family would like to thank the exceptional employees of Black Press for their years of dedication and professionalism, and our valued partners, readers and advertisers for their continued support of community journalism.
The Black family is confident that the restructuring of Black Press announced Jan. 15 will be successful and enable Black Press to continue to provide high quality community journalism, and that the proposed new owners will be excellent stewards of Black Press' treasured publications.
