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Ocala
Friday, March 29, 2024

89-year-old journalist/historian to be honored with lifetime achievement award in Ocala

The Ocala Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association will present its first ever Lifetime Achievement Award in Communications to retired Star-Banner Editor and longtime Marion County historian David Cook.

Cook, 89, retired from the newspaper as editorial page editor in 1995 and went on to earn the title of “Mr. Marion County History” for his weekly “The Way It Was” column.

David Cook is the author of Historic Ocala.
David Cook is the author of Historic Ocala.

Chapter President Lauren DeIorio said that Cook’s “legacy of ethical journalism and his position in this community as our de facto historian rightfully deserves to be recognized.”

Cook will be honored at the at the annual Wilton F. Martin Communicator of the Year and Mid-Florida Image awards on Thursday, April 27 beginning at 5:30 p.m. The program takes place at the Marion County Extension Auditorium, 2232 NE Jacksonville Road, in Ocala. 

Now in its 13th year, the Communicator of the Year award was named in honor of Wilton F. “Marty” Martin, an Ocala native who got his start at the Star-Banner. In 1938, he was instrumental in the creation of FPRA while serving as publicity director at Silver Springs. Martin went on to serve as the Association’s second state president.  FPRA is the oldest professional association of public relations practitioners in the nation.

In addition to the special Lifetime Achievement Award, the FPRA-Ocala Chapter will present Local Image awards in public relations excellence, recognizing the very best examples of innovation, planning and design. Individual and institutional Communicator of the Year nominees and winners will also be honored.

The following were nominated for using strategic communications to make a difference in the Ocala/Marion County community.

Individual nominees are: Ginger Broslat, APR, CPRC; Kevin Christian, APR, CPRC; Dr. Manal Fakhoury; Toni James, APR, CPRC; Margaret  Spontak; and Larry Whitler and Robin MacBlane.

Institutional nominees are: the College of Central Florida, Marion Cultural Alliance, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Measure Up Marion and United Way of Marion County.