Retired professor honored for life's work

North Fort Collins resident and retired Colorado State University professor Garrett Ray recently received the 34th annual Eugene Cervi Award for outstanding public service through community journalism.

The award also recognized Ray for "adhering to the highest standards of the craft with the deep reverence for the English language that was the hallmark of Gene Cervi's writing."

Ray, 72, is the former co-owner of the Littleton Independent, which he sold in 1981. In 1984, he joined the journalism faculty at CSU, teaching media ethics, reporting, editing and management. He retired from CSU in 2001, winning the "Keeper of the Flame Award" from the Colorado chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists the same year.

His latest award, presented by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors at Prince Edward Island, Canada, honors the memory of Eugene Cervi of the Rocky Mountain Journal in Denver. Many still regard Cervi, who died in 1970, as their "journalism conscience."

Throughout his career, Ray has held a leadership role with several press associations. Ray served as president of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, the Colorado Press Association, and the Colorado chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He was a Congressional Fellow in Washington, D.C., and a Knight Fellow at Stanford University.

He received ISWNE's Golden Quill award in 1980.

He holds two journalism degrees from the University of Colorado and a Ph.D. from the University of Cardiff, Wales.

Brian Steffens, executive director of the National Newspaper Association, wrote in support of Ray's nomination for the Cervi award: "It would be hard to imagine somewhere in this great country that Garrett has not touched a community, where that community is served by a community newspaper."

"No one has more respect for quality journalism, the written word, and the smudges of ink on newsprint than Garrett," wrote Joe Cervi, journalist and great-nephew of Gene Cervi.