2020 Honoree

Gene Foreman

Gene Foreman spent 25 years out of his 41-year career as a journalist at The Philadelphia Inquirer. He served as executive editor, managing editor and deputy editor. During this time, the Inquirer received 18 Pulitzer Prizes and, even now, is referred to as its “heyday” for the amount of talent and reliability within its journalism and reporting. Foreman’s journalism career began at the age of 13, as a correspondent for the Phillips County Herald in his hometown in rural Arkansas. After returning from the Army, his career continued at the Arkansas Gazette in 1957. After his time with the Gazette, Foreman worked with numerous publications such as The New York Times, Pine Bluff Commercial, Arkansas Democrat and, as executive news director, at Newsday. Following his journalism career, Foreman became a member of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications faculty at Penn State. Foreman was a part of the Penn State family from 1999 to 2006. He taught classes on journalism ethics, winning two awards for teaching and another recognition for the contributions he made to the college.