Obituaries In The News

Annenberg was a trustee emeritus at Penn, where she and her husband founded the Annenberg School for Communication in 1958. In 1993, the couple gave Penn its largest gift ever — $120 million — to endow the school and create the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

The Annenbergs also established a sister School for Communication at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

In addition to leading the Annenberg Foundation, Annenberg also headed the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, which focuses on advancing public understanding of and appreciation for democracy.

Walter Annenberg's father started the family publishing empire, eventually acquiring The Philadelphia Inquirer. His son greatly expanded the businesses, adding the Philadelphia Daily News and branching out into magazines, including Seventeen and the hugely successful TV Guide. He also added radio and TV stations and amassed a multimillion-dollar art collection.

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John Bankert

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — John Bankert, a former executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, died Thursday. He was 68.