2008-09 Roy Robinson The Graham Leader

Roy Robinson, publisher of The Graham Leader and vice president of Graham Newspapers Inc., was elected June 21, as president of Texas Press Association at the organization’s 129th summer convention in Arlington.

Robinson succeeds Phil Major, publisher of the Clay County Leader, who became chairman of the board. Other newly elected officers are Terry Collier, publisher of the Fredericksburg Standard Radio Post as first vice president, Bob Brincefield, publisher of the Brownwood Bulletin as second vice president, and Chad Ferguson, of The Banner Press Newspaper in Columbus, as treasurer.
Robinson is a lifelong newspaperman. He grew up in the back shop of his father’s Goodland Daily News in northwestern Kansas. After attending the University of Missouri, he launched his career at the age of 21 as city editor of The Lamar Tri-State Daily News in Lamar, Colo.

He and his wife, Carol Lee, purchased the Ute Pass Courier in Woodland Park, Colo., in 1966. He also edited the Cripple Creek (Colo.) Gold Rush from 1965 until 1978.

Robinson published the Eagle Valley (Colo.) Enterprise, then both the Westminster Window and Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel in suburban Denver before joining MediaNews Group in January 1997 as publisher of The Fort Morgan (Colo.) Times.

Robinson was elected in 1972 as president of Colorado Press Association and was later awarded honorary life membership recognition by CPA.

Robinson came to Texas in 1998 as vice president of Graham Newspapers Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of MediaNews Group. He currently serves as publisher in Graham and at sister newspapers the Breckenridge American, Jack County Herald, Jacksboro Gazette-News, Lake Country Sun and The Olney Enterprise. He also is responsible for the company’s four radio stations, KWKQ-FM and KSWA-AM in Graham and KLXK-FM and KROO-AM in Breckenridge.

On Jan. 31, Graham Newspapers Inc. purchased the Star Group newspapers, the Burleson Star, Alvarado Star, Crowley Star, Joshua Star, Keene Star and South Tarrant Star in Everman.

Robinson served as president of West Texas Press Association in 2004-05 and in 2006 received WTPA’s Harold Hudson Memorial Award.

He was president of North & East Texas Press Association in 2007-08 and received NETPA’s Sam C. Holloway Award in 2005 and Tom Mooney Memorial Friend of the Newspaper Award in 2006.

He has served since 2005 on the Texas Newspaper Foundation Board of Trustees.

Robinson has been active over the past three decades on various National Newspaper Association committees and as a judge for NNA’s annual Better Newspaper Contest. He completed the NNA Boot Camp in 1997.

He is a member of the Rotary Club of Graham and was charter chairman of the Graham Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board. He is a member of the Graham Senior Citizens Center and Graham Concert Association boards of directors, the Graham Chamber of Commerce Red Coat Ambassadors and the Old Post Office Museum and Art Center of Graham.

Robinson is a member of the First United Methodist Church of Graham and past president of the High Questor Adult Sunday School Class.

He served on numerous boards and commissions, including the Home Rule Charter Commission in Woodland Park, Colo., and on city councils in Woodland Park and Eagle, Colo. He is a past exalted ruler in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and was a member of the Selective Service Board before the military draft ended.

His personal honors include a citation for meritorious valor at Soldiers Memorial Park in Sherman County, Kan., in 1956; Citizen of the Year in Woodland Park, Colo., in 1972; honorary life member of the Woodland Park Chamber of Commerce in 1978; and Citizen of the Year in Eagle, Colo., in 1988.

His favorite pastimes while in Colorado were horsepacking into the high mountain wilderness in the summer and snowmobiling throughout the Rocky Mountain West in winter.

He and Carol Lee are the parents of two adult children, Robert Robinson of Pueblo, Colo., and Michelle Kopec of Centennial, Colo. They have two grandchildren.