Jack Loftis (Inducted 1997)

Loftis, Executive Vice-President and Editor of the Houston Chronicle, is steeped in the world of newspaper features. He served as the Chronicle's Sunday magazine from 1970 to 1972 until he was promoted to Features Editor. He was named the paper's Assistant Managing Editor/Features in 1974.

Loftis has the distinction of having served as President of both AASFE and the Newspaper Features Council. He was instrumental in keeping the NFC alive in the mid-1980s. At that time, when the council didn't have a mandate, he gathered together a more involved board, got the syndicates to put some money behind it and rededicated the group to the cause of good syndicate relations with newspapers.

Ron Patel, Sunday Editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, praised Loftis for "creating an entertaining features section with soul. Loftis also has had a long-standing interest in newspaper comics.

"He was the guiding force behind the creation of several comic strips, including Tank McNamara," Patel said. "He would literally put a writer and artist together to create a strip. He also had a keen interest in newspaper magazines and struggled to keep them alive in the 1960s and 1970s."