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Gerald Ensley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gerald Ensley (Aug. 16, 1951 – 16 February 2018[1]) was a newspaper reporter and columnist for the Tallahassee Democrat as well as an author. He appeared on WFSU's show Perspectives.[2]

He was born on an Air Force base in Nagoya, Japan. His father was an Air Force master sergeant and then worked for the federal civil service. His mother was a civil service clerk typist who became a procurement supervisor in the federal government. He graduated from Satellite Beach High School in 1969.[1]

He attended Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee for two years before dropping out and working various jobs including as a taxi driver in Tallahassee before returning to FSU and graduating with a political science degree in 1980. Flambeau for two years in 1978 and 1980, winning a College Sportswriter Of the Year award from Sports Illustrated in 1980. After graduating he joined the Tallahassee Democrat.[1]

He was married to Sally Karioth and raised her daughter Amanda Karioth-Thompson with her. He made a short video documentary of one of his vacations travelling.[3] He wrote up detailed instructions for his funeral.[4] The Desert Sun published photos of him "through the years".[5]

In 2022, Florida State University established an endowed developing writer award named in his honor.[6][7] Johnny Bell was the inaugural recipient.[8]

Publishings

[edit]
  • From The Sidelines, The Best of Bill McGrotha (1993), editor
  • Tallahassee Democrat, 100 Years (2005)
  • We Found Paradise': Gerald Ensley on the History and Eccentricities of His Beloved Tallahassee, a collection of his articles (2018)[9][10]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Burlew, Jeff; Portman, Jennifer (16 February 2018). "Tallahassee treasure: 'Beautifully cantankerous' Democrat newspaperman Gerald Ensley dies". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  2. ^ "Gerald Ensley Dies". WFSU News. February 16, 2018.
  3. ^ "Gerald Ensley summer vacation". usatoday.
  4. ^ "Gerald Ensley's Obituary (2018) Tallahassee Democrat". Legacy.com.
  5. ^ "Gerald Ensley through the years". www.tallahassee.com.
  6. ^ "Gerald Ensley Emerging Journalist Endowed Fund - FS4U". fsu.academicworks.com.
  7. ^ "Ensley Award | The Florida Book Awards". www.floridabookawards.org.
  8. ^ Klopfenstein, Kelsey (March 10, 2022). "Recipient of Gerald Ensley Developing Writer Award announced".
  9. ^ ""We Found Paradise" Book Launch Set". WFSU News. November 30, 2018.
  10. ^ Ensley, Gerald. "Still waiting to catch on: Gallie Alley a corridor of high hopes | Gerald Ensley". The Arizona Republic.