The Wilson Hirschfeld Fund
Past provider of an annual grant to a selected educational institution for furthering the study of journalism.
The late Mr.Orley Bosworth, also known to his friends and associates as Doc Bosworth, conceived of the idea of the Wilson Hirschfeld Fund Trust shortly after Wilson's 1974 passing. The purpose of the Trust was to provide an annual monetary grant to a school, college or university in Wilson's memory to aid in the teaching of journalism, be it print or electronic.
Doc Bosworth was a friend and colleague of Wilson Hirschfeld. Wilson met Doc while assigned to The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Columbus, Ohio Bureau.
At that time Doc ran a news production service called Electro Media from Columbus (the state's capital) that provided report packages to television, radio and print media outlets throughout Ohio.
Electro Media produced audio, video, photographic and print reports of Columbus area news items, particularly those concerning the dealings of Ohio's state government. For television, radio and photographic items the reports were filed on tape or film, which was then physically delivered from Electro Media's production facility in Columbus to media facilities throughout Ohio. When Electro Media operated there were no satellite links or Internet connections available to distribute their audio or visual news packages electronically. Print stories were written in Columbus then delivered to newspaper editorial offices via telephone transcription.
Many Ohio media outlets at that time, the smaller ones in particular, found it to be more cost effective using Electro Media's services for state government coverage than creating reports with their own personnel.
While several of Wilson's former colleagues served as faithful Trustees of the fund, Doc Bosworth's unfortunate passing in late 2009 lead to the Trust being dissolved in early 2010, thus calling an end to the grant.
Page revised April 28, 2010.