American City Business Journals Chairman Ray Shaw Dies at 75

By: E&P Staff American City Business Journals (ACBJ) chairman Ray Shaw died at his home in Charlotte Sunday morning of complications from a bee sting. He was 75.

His son, Whitney Shaw, told the Associated Press that Shaw had been working in his garage Saturday when he was stung by a yellow jacket and collapsed. He was briefly revived before passing away.

Shaw, along with partner Ed Gaylord, acquired majority ownership of ACBJ in 1989. In his 20 years as chairman, the company nearly doubled the number of weekly business journals published, from 21 to 40. It also boasts an online publishing division and an array of other publications, including The Sporting News, Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal, and the Hemmings automobile guide.

Shaw sold ACBJ to Advance Publications in 1995, but stayed on as chairman. His sons, Whitney and Kirk, are also executives in the company, serving as executive vice president and vice president and chief financial officer, respectively.

?While we are indeed saddened by his death, we now cherish the time we had together and appreciate the lessons about life, family and business that will continue in all those he touched,? the brothers wrote in an e-mail to employees announcing Shaw's passing.

Born in 1934 in Hinton, Okla., Shaw attended, but did not graduate from, the University of Oklahoma and worked at the Associated Press bureau in Oklahoma City. He was later transferred by AP to Louisville, and later to New York, where he worked on the features desk.

In 1960, Shaw began a 29-year association with Dow Jones & Co., starting as a Wall Street Journal reporter covering the media and advertising beat. In 1963, he became Dallas bureau chief, and oversaw a series of reports on President Lyndon Johnson's family fortune, which won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 1965.

Shaw became president and chief operating officer at Dow Jones in 1979. During his ten years in that position, Dow Jones' annual revenues reached $1.7 billion. Shaw is also credited with expanding Dow Jones' operations into international markets.

"He will be missed, personally as well as by all in his profession who have been touched and influenced by his many contributions to the role media plays in our society," Warren Phillips, former CEO of Dow Jones, told the Carolina Business News Initiative Web site.

Shaw took early retirement from Dow Jones in 1989 at age 55. Shortly thereafter, he began making inquiries about buying into ACBJ. In April, Shaw received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.