{"id":235861,"date":"2012-10-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-13T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/vanguard-kpbs-journalist-gloria-penner-dies\/"},"modified":"2012-10-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-13T07:00:00","slug":"vanguard-kpbs-journalist-gloria-penner-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/vanguard-kpbs-journalist-gloria-penner-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Muere Gloria Penner, periodista de Vanguard KPBS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Public figure remembered as activist, mentor and pioneer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Morgan M. Hurley | Downtown\u00a0Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

The entire San Diego press corps is sure to be in mourning this week after news came Monday of the passing of Gloria Penner, a longtime local journalist whose trailblazing career of influence spanned more than fifty years.<\/p>\n

Penner spent the last 43 years at KPBS, the local public media outlet subsidiary owned by San Diego State University, before succumbing to cancer on Oct. 6 after a two-year struggle. She was 81.<\/p>\n

The organization released both a printed and a filmed statement on Penner\u2019s passing, calling her a \u201cbroadcasting pioneer\u201d in print.\u00a0 The television spot said Penn started her career at KPBS in 1989 as a community relations director, \u201ca position she immediately abandoned for a camera and a microphone.\u201d KPBS had been in operation for just two years when Penner joined the station and her reporting style became legend.<\/p>\n

\u201cKPBS would not be the same today if it wasn\u2019t for the contributions of Gloria Penner,\u201d said General Manager Tom Karlo in the printed statement. \u201cGloria was among the first staff during the formative years of KPBS. She has been an intregal part of KPBS\u2019 growth and change through the decades. We will miss her dearly.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her extensive career at the local public media powerhouse, Penner held many different titles and positions, adapting to whatever was needed, and was \u201cthe first woman to reach a management position\u201d at the station, according to Karlo.<\/p>\n

\u201cGloria was a true trailblazer at KPBS and in local news,\u201d Karlo said. \u201cShe led the way for women in journalism and set the standard for political reporting and election coverage \u2013 in depth thoughtful analysis \u2013 that remains a priority for KPBS today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Vanguard<\/a>
Penner at the KPBS station. (Photo courtesy KPBS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to a story by Pat Finn on the KPBS website, Karlo was just a student when he first met Penner, and she mentored him throughout his upwardly mobile career, which started behind the camera and up into executive management.<\/p>\n

Penner was identified by the station as a champion of women\u2019s rights, and a voice for not only women in the workplace, but all minorities. Her goal as journalist was to get \u201cthe inner thoughts and the outer struggles\u201d of those she interviewed.<\/p>\n

Her impact was felt significantly throughout the KPBS organization and those she championed. Politics was her passion and she was not afraid to ask the tough questions, according to the filmed announcement.\u00a0 Her treatment of politics set the tone for KPBS\u2019 coverage.<\/p>\n

“I had the fortune to work with Gloria Penner for over 15 years,\u201d said Monica Medina, the station\u2019s director of diversity. \u201cIn that time, I found her to be a mentor, a visionary and a staunch supporter of the KPBS mission. She was a true pioneer, not only for all women, but all striving for the American Dream. More importantly, Gloria was devoted to San Diego and its diverse communities. She believed in equal rights for all.”<\/p>\n

Longtime LGBT and political activist Gloria Johnson shared her memories of Penner this week. \u201cI will remember her as an early female voice, when very few where on the airwaves in San Diego,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI had the privilege of meeting Ms. Penner once when she came to [then called] San Diego Democratic Club for a special event. We found her to be a supporter of LGBT rights and a friend to all of us. She will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The League of Women Voters (LWV) honored her in 2003 with its inaugural Gloria Penner Civic Service Award. Penner was a frequent speaker and moderator for the organization.<\/p>\n

“The league depended upon her non-partisanship and eagerness to contribute her skills and know-how for voter education to the San Diego community,” said a recent statement from the league.<\/p>\n

The San Diego-based Women\u2019s Museum of California, led by Executive Director Ashley Gardner and Board President Anne Hoiberg, also released a statement on her passing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a\u00a0heavy\u00a0heart, we thank Gloria for being an\u00a0inspiration to all of us and for her dedication to upholding the highest principles of journalism. Her\u00a0many contributions\u00a0to the people and community of San Diego will live on.\u201d<\/p>\n

A special tribute to Penner will be included in the Women\u2019s Museum of California\u2019s \u201cSalute to the Women of Broadcast History\u201d program, to be held [Friday] Nov. 9, at the McMillin Center in Liberty Station.\u00a0 For more information about the tribute, visit womensmuseumca.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Penner and her distinctive voice worked as long as humanely possible, despite her illness. Her last broadcast was July 20, 2012, as the mid-day host of the Editor\u2019s Roundtable, a program she created in 1998.<\/p>\n

She is survived by her husband, Bill Snyder of La Jolla, and two sons, Brad Penner of San Diego and Steve Penner of Tucson, Az.\u00a0 There will be a public celebration of Penner\u2019s life at a future date.<\/p>\n

To view Penner\u2019s video obituary or read more about her career, visit kpbs.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Public figure remembered as activist, mentor and pioneer Morgan M. Hurley | Downtown\u00a0Editor The entire San Diego press corps is sure to be in mourning this week after news came Monday of the passing of Gloria Penner, a longtime local journalist whose trailblazing career of influence spanned more than fifty years. Penner spent the last […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":235862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Vanguard KPBS journalist Gloria Penner dies","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11600,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sdnews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}