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| Saturday, August 19, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Reynolds grant to fund press foundation facility
Review-Journal
Nevada newspapers and young journalists are among many who will benefit from a Donald W. Reynolds Foundation grant of more than $1 million.
The Reynolds Foundation's trustees on Thursday approved the grant of $1,029,891 to allow the purchase, renovation and furnishing of historic Rinckel Mansion in Carson City.
The center will house the Nevada Press Foundation, which will lease office space to the Nevada Press Association.
The renovated mansion will be called the Donald W. Reynolds Press Center. Reynolds, who died in 1993, was founder of Donrey Media Group, which includes in its present day holdings the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada's largest newspaper. Thomas Mitchell, editor of the Review-Journal, is president of the press association.
"The trustees and I felt it appropriate that this facility should be named after Mr. Reynolds, who in his lifetime was responsible for a major portion of Nevada's media growth and history," said Fred W. Smith, chairman of the Reynolds Foundation.
Once renovated, the historic 3,800 square foot facility will allow the foundation to host news conferences, educational seminars and leased office space for statewide news organizations.
The Press Foundation has proposed an internship program, allowing college students to work out of a news office in the renovated mansion.
A third function of the mansion will be to house the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame.
Kent Lauer, the executive director of the Nevada Press Association, expressed gratitude for the funding.
"Thanks to the generosity of the Reynolds Foundation, Carson City will be the home of one of the country's finest state press centers, a prestigious building that will promote journalism education and bring print media organizations in the state capital under one roof," he said.
"The Reynolds grant also guarantees that the Rinckel Mansion will be preserved as one of Carson City's most valuable historic and architectural resources. The public will be proud of the grand mansion after the remodeling is completed," Lauer said.
Lauer, who also serves as the secretary-treasurer of the Nevada Press Foundation, said that while the purchase is final, there is no official timetable for work to begin.
"We hope to begin as soon as possible," he said.
The Reynolds Foundation, a national philanthropic organization founded in Nevada in 1954, is headquartered in Las Vegas, and is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.
The Nevada Press Association is the formal trade organization for the newspaper industry in Nevada. It is a voluntary nonprofit organization that represents 11 daily and 29 weekly newspapers in Nevada and the Lake Tahoe region of northern California.
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