Nackey Scripps Loeb and the New Hampshire School She Built
The Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications
School founder Nackey Scripps Loeb was an unabashed champion of our First Amendment. How could she not have been? The United States Constitution’s very first amendment gave her all the support she needed to run a newspaper that took seriously its role as a public watchdog and allowed her to be an outspoken advocate of freedom and an equally passionate critic of those who would restrict or deny it. She counted Ronald Reagan as a friend and her political advice was coveted by many political figures.
She was born into the newspaper industry, a granddaughter of Edward Willis Scripps, founder of what became E.W. Scripps Company. In 1952, she married William Loeb, president, and publisher of the Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News. When he passed away in 1981, Mrs. Loeb took the reins of the newspapers. She did not shy away from a tradition started by her husband. As publisher, she continued writing strong front-page editorials.
She was a woman of vision. She instituted several changes at the paper: establishing an internet presence, purchasing a new color press, and building a state-of-the-art plant. She also purchased a group of community newspapers and was known for her generosity to charitable organizations. In 1999, Mrs. Loeb founded a non-profit communications school in Manchester that offers free classes and low-cost workshops
She wanted her school to be a First Amendment resource for the people of New Hampshire, increasing their appreciation and understanding of it and offering classes, workshops, and training in ways and means to improve their own communication skills. It has done that for more than 20 years, providing basic courses at no charge for students of all ages.
The Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications was founded with this simple mission—which still guides us today: to promote and defend the First Amendment and foster interest, integrity and excellence in journalism and other forms of communication by educating students of various ages and providing them with the tools and knowledge to improve their skill.
Our teachers are highly valued professionals, including print, radio, photo, and TV journalists, lawyers skilled in First Amendment law, public relations executives, and digital pros who know Photoshop from a blog. Many students take more than one course and avail themselves of low-cost workshops on related subjects.
The school works collaboratively with several institutions including the New England First Amendment Coalition, the New Hampshire Civics Education Institute, and the New Hampshire Press Association, and partners with New Hampshire newspapers through its Solutions Journalism program. We have hosted visiting journalists from around the world and provided workshops for New Hampshire high school students.
Nackey Loeb was married to one outspoken newspaperman, William Loeb, and was granddaughter of another, E.W. Scripps. But as a new biography (Political Godmother: Nackey Scripps Loeb and the Newspaper That Shook the Republican Party, by Meg Heckman) shows, she didn’t live in their shadows. She was herself a savvy and outspoken publisher who valued an independent press as being vital to American democracy. She felt so strongly on the subject that she directed that her stock in the New Hampshire Union Leader be donated to the school.