Claiborne, Jack

Jack Claiborne was born near Charlotte, N.C. in 1931, and began his career in newspaper journalism at the age of 14. He wrote for the Charlotte News, the Charlotte Observer, the Fort Jackson (S.C.) military base newspaper, and the Chicago Daily News. While writing for the Charlotte Observer, he earned acclaim for his column, entitled "Charlotte: this time and place" and a book about the history of the Observer, of the same title. With time he earned a succession of promotions as an editor. He resigned from the Observer in 1990 to move to Ithaca, NY to work for Park Communications. He returned to Charlotte in 1994 to assume the position of director of public relations at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In 1998 he was promoted to the position of Associate Vice chancellor of Public Relations. He retired at the end of 2000, but continued to work part-time. He also continued writing editorials for the Charlotte Observer.