John Francis Lansing

John Francis Lansing passed away peacefully at home on August 14, 2024 in view of his beloved lake in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. He was a smart, kind, compassionate man who lived a life of purpose, and was a role model to family, friends and colleagues.
John was born in Minneapolis, MN to Catherine Ann and William Lansing. The family moved to St. Louis when John was 5, and to Paducah, KY five years later. He graduated from St. Mary High School in Paducah in 1975.
John began a 49-year career in media when, as a 17-year-old recent high school graduate, he was hired as a studio technician and cameraman at WPSD, Paducah, KY. He loved telling his children that his first job in media was to paint the exterior of the tv station's building; he did eventually work his way inside. He was promoted to news photographer after two years. He then moved on to serve as chief news photographer and then managing editor at WAVE, Louisville, KY, news director at WWMT, Kalamazoo, MI, assistant news direct at KARE 11, news director at WCCO, Minneapolis, MN and at WBBM, Chicago, IL, before becoming station manager at WXYZ, Detroit, MI and general manager at WEWS, Cleveland, OH. He was an award-winning photojournalist, and regaled his family with numerous stories about his wild days of shooting stories.
John spent almost 20 years working at Scripps. He served as SVP, Television for the E. W. Scripps Company, where he managed ten broadcast television stations across the country, and as President of Scripps Networks Interactive, where he had oversight of digital operations and six cable networks: Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, DIY, Cooking Channel and Great American Country.
In 2013, John moved to Washington DC to serve as CEO of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, before being recruited to lead the Broadcasting Board of Governors (later renamed the US Agency for Global Media), the federal agency that oversees all international media, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, among other networks. Four years later, John joined NPR, where he served as the CEO until his retirement in April. He considered himself blessed to work with dedicated journalists around the world, and was passionate about the role that a free and independent press plays in maintaining a thriving democracy, as well as the importance of standing up against the "war on truth" happening throughout the world.
John served for ten years as a visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. He was a member of the Quinnipiac University School of Communications Advisory Board and the National Board of Advisors of George Washington University's School of Media & Public Affairs.
John considered it a great honor to serve as the Chair of United Way of Greater Knoxville Annual Fund in 2009, where he led the drive to raise more than $11million to serve the needs of the Knoxville, TN area. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Knoxville Area Urban League.
Although John had taken college courses throughout his career, beginning at the local community college in Paducah, KY, he left his college studies in Louisville just short of a degree as his career and family life got too busy to do both. As his eldest sons began to think about college, and at the urging of longtime friend Bob Steele, he decided to finish his coursework as an example to his children. With the support of the wonderful faculty at Bellarmine University in Louisville, John spent many nights and weekends finishing his classwork (both online and in person) and graduated from Bellarmine in 2009 at age 52, with his proud family in attendance. He was named to the Bellarmine University Gallery of Distinguished Graduates in 2010. He served on the Bellarmine University Board of Trustees from 2010-2016 and was vice-chair 2014-2016. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2021.
After retirement this spring, John joined the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy as a Senior Fellow. He also joined the Advisory Board for the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Although his time with both was unfortunately cut short, he reveled in sharing his love of journalism with other experts in the field, and looked forward to learning from them and contributing in any way he could.
For all of his passion for his career, John's greatest love was his family. He married Jean in 1993, and together they raised sons Jackson, Alex and Nick, and daughter JJ. Through their many moves, John loved to take the kids exploring each new town, and spent many Saturdays at children's museums, parks and ball games. He coached each of the kids' youth soccer and baseball teams, and was infamous when he served as third base coach on Jackson and Alex's rec baseball team for sending every runner home, whether or not they had a shot at scoring. He and the boys took annual baseball trips, trying to get to every ball park in the country; Nick has vowed to finish the list in his dad's honor. John and JJ made frequent trips to New York to attend Broadway shows (complete with side trips to high tea and the American Girl store). John traveled often for his career, but made it a priority to be home for his children's activities and milestones, often flying home for an evening before returning to his travels. During our ten years in Knoxville, John and the kids became avid UT Vols/SEC fans, and we noted that John could leave this life happy knowing that he had finally witnessed UT win a national title - this one in baseball this spring. A huge golf fan, John had a once-in-a-lifetime experience when he and the boys attended the 2019 Masters and witnessed Tiger Woods' epic win. He loved his text conversations on the family group chat about sporting events, movies, books, politics, the Green Bay Packers, and the New York Times puzzles, and his late-night phone calls with JJ to discuss the guests on Colbert's Late Night show. John encouraged his children's adventures, and cheered them on as they took on backpacking trips to Alaska and Wyoming, hikes in the Colorado Rockies, river rafting in Alaska, theater intensives in LA and NYC, a summer job at a winery in Italy, and a semester abroad in New Zealand. He was so proud of each of the kids as they created careers and lives for themselves, but always looked forward to their visits home. The kids will miss hearing John tell his crazy career stories over and over - "we know, dad - you crashed in a hot air balloon and were dragged across a field in the basket on your 21st birthday while you were filming a race!" He and Jean loved to travel together, and often reminded one another that "you're still really fun to hang out with!" He also loved to take long walks with our beloved pup, Zoë, and boasted that they walked enough miles to get to the Pacific Ocean and back. We looked forward to new adventures during retirement, and although it's heartbreaking to know we didn't get that time together, we are all so grateful to have memories galore of our life together.
John was happiest when the whole family was at the lake in Wisconsin, where he would drive the pontoon boat (losing numerous baseball caps in the wind) and scope out the best fishing spots. He never missed a sunset, often reminding the kids to stop to relish every one. We will miss and love you forever; the hole left in our family is immense, but your love and strong sense of ethics will guide our way. We will think of you, with love, at sunset every day.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the White House Correspondents Association Scholarship Fund to support promising journalism students at colleges and universities around the country. Link: https://whca.press/ Click on the donate button, and when promoted, note "In memory of John F. Lansing for journalism scholarships."
Services will be held at a later date.