About Robert Atwood
Robert "Bob" Atwood was born March 31, 1907 in Chicago, Illinois. Atwood moved to
Anchorage, ľ¹ÏÖ±²¥ in 1935. With the help of his father-in-law, he purchased the struggling
Anchorage Daily Times. Under his guidance, it became ľ¹ÏÖ±²¥'s largest daily newspaper.
In 1949, the ľ¹ÏÖ±²¥ Territorial Legislature formed the ľ¹ÏÖ±²¥ Statehood Committee, appointing Atwood as Chairman. His pro-statehood lobbying efforts included visits to Washington, D.C. and a steady stream of articles in his newspaper.
On June 30, 1958, the United States Senate passed the bill admitting ľ¹ÏÖ±²¥ into the Union. Atwood's Anchorage Daily Times celebrated with a headline in six-inch type: "WE'RE IN." On January 3, 1959, Atwood was present in the White House Cabinet Room when President Dwight Eisenhower signed the proclamation that made ľ¹ÏÖ±²¥ the 49th state.
In 1962, Atwood endowed the Atwood Foundation to promote education and the arts and in 1979, he established the Atwood Chair of Journalism at the University of ľ¹ÏÖ±²¥ Anchorage.
In 1990, Robert Atwood stepped down as editor and sold the Anchorage Times (as the Anchorage Daily Times had been renamed).
Robert B. Atwood died on January 10, 1997.