May 7, 2002
WACO, Texas -
Jack Loftis, co-chairman of the Baylor "B" Association Communications Committee and associate publisher and editor of the Houston Chronicle, will retire from the paper July 1.
He joined the Chronicle in 1965 and has been its ranking editor for the past 15 years.
Following retirement Loftis will be named Chronicle Editor Emeritus and will continue a part-time relationship with the newspaper.
Loftis began his newspaper career as a sportswriter at his hometown Hillsboro Daily Mirror in 1955 while still attending Baylor. After receiving a business degree in 1957 Loftis worked briefly as a casualty insurance underwriter and in sales promotion for Bristol-Myers Squibb before returning to journalism and becoming editor of the Daily Mirror in 1962.
Named a Baylor distinguished alumnus in 1988, Loftis was a member of the university's 1993-95 Sesquicentennial Council of 150 and received the Baylor Media Award in 1997.
He currently serves on the Baylor Alumni Association Executive Committee and is chairman of the BAA Communications Committee.
Loftis was a freshman baseball letterman at Baylor in 1954 and last year the press box at Baylor Ballpark was named in his honor.
The Houston Chronicle sponsored the Astros College Classic in 2001 and 2002, with Loftis serving as host each year to a large number of Baylor friends when the Bears played their opening games of the tournament.
