James Calhoun Tanner (February 27, 1926 – December 5, 2019) was a journalist who covered the oil and gas industry for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' for many years. He was part of the team that won the 1961 Gerald Loeb Award for Newspapers.

Early life

Tanner was born on February 27, 1926, in

Killeen, Texas Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 153,095, making it the 19th-most populous city in Texas and the largest of the three principal cities of Bell County. It is the principal city ...

. He earned his B.A. in journalism from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Tanner served in the U.S. Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Texas National Guard.

Career

Tanner began his career with the '' Valley Morning Star''. He then served as the Killeen

bureau chief A news bureau is an office for gathering or distributing news. Similar terms are used for specialized bureaus, often to indicate a geographic location or scope of coverage: a ‘Tokyo bureau’ refers to a given news operation's office in Tokyo; ' ...

for the '' Temple Telegram''. In 1949, Tanner and his wife, Trinnia, founded the Killeen Publishing Company to purchase and operate the ''

Killeen Daily Herald The ''Killeen Daily Herald'' is a daily newspaper in Killeen, Texas. The newspaper is owned by Frank Mayborn Enterprises, Inc. The newspaper has a daily circulation of about 14,000 readers and a Sunday circulation of about 17,000 readers. Histor ...

'' the following year. Tanner was the president and editor, while Trinnia was the treasurer and a columnist. In 1954, Tanner sold the newspaper to James Gresham and joined the

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

office of ''

''. Tanner covered the oil and gas industry as a staff reporter for the ''Journal''. In 1961, he was part of the ''Journal'' team that received a

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Award, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was estab ...

for "New Millionaires". He received the Frank Kelley Memorial Award for excellence in journalism from the American Association of Professional Landmen in 1968 for the article "Food from Fuel", which tells the story of T. W. Murray's rise to prominence in the oil industry. Tanner was the natural resources editor by 1977, and oil editor when he left the paper in 1981. In 1981, Tanner was appointed Vice President in charge of the newly created international publications division of the Petroleum Information Corporation, where he edited ''Petroleum Information International'', a global energy newsletter. Tanner returned to ''The Wall Street Journal'' by 1986. In 1993, he was included in ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine's ''MediaGuide 500: A Review of The Nations Most Important Journalists''.

Personal life

Tanner married Trinna Lanelle Farley in Temple, Texas, on April 4, 1947. Trinna was born in Temple on May 13, 1928. Tanner retired from the Texas National Guard as a first lieutenant in 1960. Trinna died on May 3, 2015, in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, Texas. Tanner died in Houston on December 5, 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, James C. 1926 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American journalists American male journalists Gerald Loeb Award winners for Newspaper University of Texas at Austin alumni The Wall Street Journal people People from Killeen, Texas