Scott Ring, who served as publisher of The Jersey Journal from 1994 to 2005, has died. He was 78.
A Chicago native who had been living in Florida since his retirement from the newspaper, Ring died at Jupiter Medical Center in Jupiter, Florida, on Oct. 16, according to his obituary.
Ring came to the Journal as its advertising director in 1989, having previously been the Chicago Sun-Times’s vice president of advertising.
While at the Journal, he led a period of expansion that saw the paper change from a black-and-white broadsheet to a full-color tabloid with a string of five weekly newspapers, including the now-defunct Spanish-language El Nuevo Hudson.
He also gave back to the community, serving as the founding chairman of the Hudson County Community College Foundation, a regent for then-St. Peter’s College (now University), and a trustee for St. Joseph School for the Blind, the Christ Hospital Foundation, the Journal Square Restoration Corp., Hudson Hospice, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hudson County and Liberty Health Systems, which was then the parent of the Jersey City Medical Center.
Former Jersey Journal Publisher Scott Ring in an undated Journal file photoJersey Journal file photo
In 2007, the community college recognized his contributions by naming a room in the new Culinary Arts Institute/Conference Center on Newkirk Street in Jersey City’s Journal Square for him. It was during his tenure at the HCCC Foundation that a scholarship program was instituted that helped hundreds of students pursue their dreams of higher education.
Ring, whose given name was David Scott Ring, was the husband of Anne Ring, former husband of Marilyn Ring, father of Jeremy Ring and Jami Turner, father-in-law of Carrie Ring and Chris Turner, stepfather of Jonathan Murga, and grandfather of four.
Just weeks after he announced his retirement, Ring gave a moving keynote address at The Jersey Journal’s 2005 Everyday Hero Awards program, which annually honored Hudson County residents for outstanding community service. According to news clippings from the event, he thanked his own, personal everyday heroes — from the owner of a supermarket who gave him his first job and taught him his strong work ethic to the Journal’s staff and the readers.
“It doesn’t take much effort to be someone’s hero,” he was quoted as saying. “Everyone in this room can be a hero. Lead by example. Little acts of kindness and large amounts of thoughtfulness will turn us all into heroes.”
