John "Bud" Thornton

1965 - 2025

John "Bud" Thornton

April 9, 1965 - March 29, 2025

Austin, Texas - John "Bud" Thornton died near his home in Austin, Texas, March 29, 2025. In recent years he struggled with his mental health and succumbed to depression, taking his own life.

A venture capitalist, Thornton will not be remembered for the millions he made for himself and others, but rather for his contributions to what he called capital-J Journalism.

Thornton founded the Texas Tribune in 2009 and served on the board. A member-supported, digital-only, nonpartisan newspaper, with it, he "helped change the financial model for sustainable local journalism," as the New York Times reported in their April 5 obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/business/media/john-thornton-dead.html.

He called it "public-service journalism" adding, "just like national defense, clean air, clean water," the Times reported.

In 2009 Thornton wrote in the Texas Tribune, "The commercial press is too fragile for our democracy to rely on for all the news and information that we require to function as responsible citizens."

By 2022, Thornton stepped down from the Texas Tribune board, "leaving in part to focus on the American Journalism Project," the Washington Post reported in their obituary. https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/04/02/john-thornton-dead/.

Thornton said, the idea was "to take the replicable pieces of the Tribune and apply them in other places," the Post reported.

Thornton graduated from Wichita Northwest High School in 1983 as Valedictorian of his class. He received his bachelor's from Trinity University, San Antonio in 1987, where he graduated first in his class and was named a distinguished alumnus in 2015. He studied for six months at the University of Oxford, England, and then earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1991.

He is survived by his wife, Erin (Driscoll) Thornton, of the home, whom he married in 2019, stepsons Wade and Wyatt Driscoll, half-sister Dana Robertson Smyser, of Wichita and half-brother Michael Robertson, of West Plains, Missouri. His first marriage, to Julie Blakeslee, ended in divorce. He is preceded in death by his parents Faith and William Thornton of Wichita.

John Thornton was honored in Austin on April 9, which would have been his 60th birthday. The event can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg8LwXwOhRU&t=2993s.

A memorial has been established with the American Journalism Project and the Texas Tribune.