Harshaw, 54, began writing to entertain herself as an only child growing up on a farm near Dayton. She persuaded a teacher to allow her to write a teen column for the Dayton Express, a black newspaper. Then a high school guidance counselor recommend Harshaw for a Dayton Newspapers summer program to draw minorities into the business.
“I got a job that summer at the Dayton Daily News and never went away,” she said.
Joining the paper full time in 1977, Harshaw became its assistant city editor, features editor and assistant business manager before being named News-Sun editor in 1990.
Inspired by newspapers’ calling to give voice to the voiceless and hold the powerful accountable, she also likes news features’ ability to convey “what the community and its people are like.”
Harshaw was involved in a phalanx of professional and community organizations, from Pulitzer Prize nominating juries to Buckeye Trails Girl Scouts and was the first minority woman to serve as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Vice president of community development for COP since 2006, Harshaw has spent most of 2009 as an executive on loan to Wilberforce University, helping to re-establish a development department there.
She plans to continue with Wilberforce as a volunteer but eventually would like to work in administration or development for a non-profit.
“I’m not ready to come home with Ginger yet,” she said, referring to her family’s well fed dog.
“Karla accomplished much ... both as a journalist and a community leader,” said News-Sun Publisher Steve Sidlo. “Her leadership was widely recognized and appreciated not just here, but around the country. She’ll be missed.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0368 or tstafford@coxohio.com.
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