David Dunn-Rankin served on the board of the Florida Press Association for many years, including as Chairman. He has also been a long-serving member of the Florida Press Foundation, including personally funding the largest single endowment within the Florida Press Foundation – The Derek Dunn-Rankin Leadership Fund, named after his father, a long-time champion of independent newspapers in Florida.
David also served many years on the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Board, including as its chair, and was awarded the Frank Mayborn award for industry leadership. He has also served on the SNPA Foundation for many years and on the American Newspapers Association board of directors.
David’s service is grounded in his community. He chaired the committee to try to bring an aquarium to downtown Punta Gorda. He served on the committee to bring a branch of Florida Gulf Coast University to Charlotte County.
He was a key figure in the successful fundraising effort to build a large new regional rodeo facility in Arcadia. David was responsible for securing funding to relocate the Tampa Bay Rays’ spring training facility to Port Charlotte, including finding the funds to renovate the stadium. Chaired the three-county hurricane recovery group after Hurricane Charlie devastated Charlotte, DeSoto, and Hardee.
After Hurricane Charlie devastated Charlotte County, requiring the rebuilding of 50% of all schools and the loss of thousands of homes, the Charlotte Sun led the community back. They created a $1 million fund for businesses that had been closed for more than a week.
After the hurricane, the Charlotte Sun delivered free newspapers to every house in Charlotte County for eight weeks. The Sun was the voice that brought the community back. The Sun was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for its work during Hurricane Charley.
The state prison in Charlotte County had inmates dying under unusual circumstances. A crowd of guards hit an inmate 13 times until he died. The coroner called it murder, but no one was prosecuted or lost their job. The Sun investigated and wrote about the miserable and dangerous conditions. One inmate wrote his mom, “Mom, they want to kill me. If you hear I killed myself, don’t believe it.” A few weeks later, he was found dead in his cell.
When the Sun finished its work, all the people in the jail’s chain of command were removed from their jobs. The Sun won a Pulitzer Prize for that effort.
For many years, David has written a weekly column about local and state issues. At the end of each column, he always wrote, “Readers, what do you think? Share your thoughts.” And they did. David answered every phone call and e-mail.
His favorite is when readers criticize him. That meant a headline in the newspaper with a title like, “Dunn-Rankin is an idiot” would surely follow.
There are a few professions where you can make the world a better place every day – or at least your little corner of it. David’s love for newspapers and their communities has been the cornerstone of his long, influential career.
