Fitzpatrick featured in SummaCare newsletter

The following appeared in a recent SummaCare newsletter:

Albert (Al) Fitzpatrick’s values and work ethic has not changed much in his 78 years. Born in Elyria on December 30, 1928, Fitzpatrick was the seventh of twelve children and a sports enthusiast from early on.

“I still love football, basketball and golf when Tiger Woods plays,” said Fitzpatrick. “Unfortunately though, I found that I was too small to compete on any of my high school sports teams.”

Fitzpatrick quickly turned that negative into a positive when he started his journalism career as a part-time sports reporter for his hometown paper, the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. Fitzpatrick would submit player statistics and articles about each game.

After high school, Fitzpatrick spent six years in the Air Force before enrolling at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He later transferred to Kent State University where he earned degrees in journalism and sociology in 1956.

That same year, Fitzpatrick made his mark in the history books when he became the first African American to join the staff at the Akron Beacon Journal. “Not only was I the first African-American reporter, but I was the first one in the building,” said Fitzpatrick.

“It took a good deal of perseverance,” said Fitzpatrick of the experience. “When you’re in an environment where most people would like to see you fail–it’s difficult. The thing that helped me most was my confidence and the focus I had in my responsibilities and my goals.

Since he had personally added diversity to the Beacon Journal’s newsroom, Fitzpatrick became passionate about the importance of diversity in the field of journalism and became Director of Minority Affairs for Knight Ridder in 1985. Fitzpatrick became the first African-American officer of Knight Ridder when he was promoted to Assistant Vice President in 1987. Before his retirement from the company in 1994, Fitzpatrick had launched 15 diversity programs for various Knight Ridder owned newspapers across the country.

“Retirement didn’t slow me down a bit,” said Fitzpatrick. Now an adjunct professor of Managing Diversity and Newswriting Courses at Kent State University, Fitzpatrick also owns his own diversity consulting company and is very active as a member of Wesley Temple AME Zion Church in Akron.

“My top three tips for living well after 65 would be exercising regularly, eating right and staying busy,” said Fitzpatrick. “Doing those things has helped me stay mentally and physically fit so that I can maintain my busy schedule and continue to work in areas that I remain passionate about,” said Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick became a member of SummaCare Secure Silver Plus plan in 2003. “The treatment has been excellent year after year,” said Fitzpatrick. “It’s wonderful to have such excellent care and also be a great value,” said Fitzpatrick,

[Blog note: Thanks to Tom Moore for calling our attention to the publication.]