Professional

News Editor, Oregon Statesman newspaper, 1945-68    

Nieman Fellow, Hardard University, 1957-58

ONPA President's Plaque, Outstanding Oregon Newsman, 1961

Overseas Travel Grant, English-Speaking Union, 1963

Associate Editor, Oregon Statesman, 1968-75

Editor, Oregon Statesman, 1975-80

Chairman, Editorial Board, Statesman-Journal, 1980-86

In 1974 Wes started writing a weekly column, initially for the Statesman and then later for the Statesman-Journal.  He continued writing his column in retirement until 2002.

Ruhl Fellow, University of Oregon School of Journalism, 1986

Author, Jam on the Celing, a book of columns, 1987

Oregon Journalism Roll of Honor, 1987

Governor Thomas Lawson McCall Freedom of Information Award, 1989

Oregon Newspaper Hall of Fame, 1989

Hall of Achievement, University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, 2010

 Bob Gangware, Robert Smith and J. Wesley Sullivan, 1956

The Oregon Statesman, 10/15/1966

Who Is The Oregon Statesman News Editor?  

Wendell Webb, Editor; Bob Gangware, Mgn. Editor;

Wes Sullivan, Associate Editor at The Oregon Statesman

Around 1972  

[Here is the text that goes with the photo of Wes playing tennis.]

Wes Sullivan, 45, news editor of The Statesman for 21 years, is the office's physical fitness nut.  Tall and gangly, he looks as though he were constantly trying to lose weight.

He and a tennis buddy play the year around.  He was once driven off Bush's Pasture Court when the snow become so thick he couldn't see the ball.  He and his family live at 1695 Church St. SE, half way between Bush's Pasture and South Salem High School.

He and his wife, Elsie, put in as many noon hours as possible each summer at Leslie swimming pool.  Another favorite Sullivan activity is backpacking.  The Sullivans have covered most of the Skyline Trail in the mid-Oregon area and when they aren't up there with packs in the summer they are there with skis in the winter.

All this exercise compensates for some of the news editor's more sedentary activities, such as service on the city library board and the Red Cross board.  (As chairman of local Red Cross, he managed to be in Mexico while the chapter faced the biggest emergency in its history, the Christmas, 1964 flood.)  He also tries to match wits with 40 to 50 teenagers in the class he teaches each Sunday at First Presbyterian Church.

Sullivan came to The Statesman two days after he doffed his World War II uniform as a B17 pilot.  He was given a year's fellowship to Harvard in 1957 and a two-month study grant in England in 1962.

The Sullivans have four children, two in college and two home.

As news editor, Sullivan is responsible for The Statesman's general content and appearance, all local and wire service news going through his desk, and also writes a good many editorials.