Dori J. Maynard left a career in newsrooms in the ’90s to advocate for a space in decision-making positions inside them for minorities.
It was something her father, the late Robert C. Maynard, championed through the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, renamed for the co-founder after his death in 1993.
She did just that as the Maynard Institute’s president, a role she took over in 2001, ensuring programs continued to train journalists and news managers that help shape the coverage of their respective communities, and serving as a watchdog to hold media organizations accountable for their reporting.
Maynard, 56, died Tuesday of complications from lung cancer, Maynard Institute officials said.
A graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, she eventually had newsroom stints at the Bakersfield Californian, the Patriot Ledger in Maine and the Detroit Free Press. She worked at the Free Press from 1989 to 1993. She left the Free Press in 1992 after being receiving a Nieman fellowship at Harvard University for the 1992-1993 school year. Before becoming president of the Maynard Institute, she directed the group’s history project, which preserves contributions of journalists of color who broke into the mainstream media during a turbulent time in the 60s and 70s.
“Dori was an incredible journalist and an incredible leader,” Bob Butler, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said in a statement on Maynard’s passing. “She was a fierce advocate who was committed to the cause of promoting exceptional journalism at the hands of exceptional talent.”
Maynard’s passing came as a surprise to many who knew her. In conversations among online journalism groups in the day after her death was announced, many pondered who would pick up the baton to continue her work.
“I think what people are not getting is … she’s always been there, both as a newspaper reporter and a pioneer,” said Benet Wilson, an aviation and travel journalist and chair of the Online News Association’s diversity committee. “But people have taken the work the Maynard Institute has done for granted. You don’t realize the extent of the loss until … the announcement.”
According to the announcement by the Maynard Institute, new programs under Dori Maynard’s leadership impacted communities by giving people license to tell their own stories. On the morning of her death, it said, she was discussing plans with another board member to further increase the institute’s presence and attract funding to support the new work.
“Dori … wasn’t one to get in people’s faces and confront them,” Wilson said. “Her approach was to reach out and say this is the problem and here’s what needs to be done about it. People are more willing to listen to a media diversity message when it’s done in more of an instructional way rather than shaming and beating people over the head.”
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