Garvin Elmo "Tank" Tankersley, 85, a businessman and former journalist, was a member of the board of directors of the Tribune from 1973 to 1981.
A resident of Tucson, he died at home Tuesday.
"He was a very perceptive man," his stepdaughter said. "Like the good reporter he was, he didn't talk much about himself but preferred to ask incisive questions and knew how to get you to talk about yourself."
Mr. Tankersley started with the Washington Times-Herald as a photographer in the mid-1930s. He became assistant managing editor by the early 1950s. In 1949, the paper was purchased by the Tribune. In 1951, he married Ruth "Bazy" McCormick Miller. She was the publisher of the paper and the niece of Tribune publisher and editor Col. Robert R. McCormick.
For a short period in the early 1950s, Mr. Tankersley worked on the Sunday staff of this newspaper. He was appointed in 1973 to succeed his wife on the paper's board of directors.
Mr. Tankersley was chairman of Phonovisual Products from 1970 to 1973 and co-owner of Al-Marah Farm, first in Potomac, Md., and subsequently in Tucson.
Other survivors include a son, two daughters, a stepson, three sisters, two brothers, six grandchildren, and four step-grandchildren.
Services were held in Tucson.
Source: Chicago Tribune, February 20, 1997
Garvin Elmo "Tank" Tankersley, 85, a businessman and former journalist, was a member of the board of directors of the Tribune from 1973 to 1981.
A resident of Tucson, he died at home Tuesday.
"He was a very perceptive man," his stepdaughter said. "Like the good reporter he was, he didn't talk much about himself but preferred to ask incisive questions and knew how to get you to talk about yourself."
Mr. Tankersley started with the Washington Times-Herald as a photographer in the mid-1930s. He became assistant managing editor by the early 1950s. In 1949, the paper was purchased by the Tribune. In 1951, he married Ruth "Bazy" McCormick Miller. She was the publisher of the paper and the niece of Tribune publisher and editor Col. Robert R. McCormick.
For a short period in the early 1950s, Mr. Tankersley worked on the Sunday staff of this newspaper. He was appointed in 1973 to succeed his wife on the paper's board of directors.
Mr. Tankersley was chairman of Phonovisual Products from 1970 to 1973 and co-owner of Al-Marah Farm, first in Potomac, Md., and subsequently in Tucson.
Other survivors include a son, two daughters, a stepson, three sisters, two brothers, six grandchildren, and four step-grandchildren.
Services were held in Tucson.
Source: Chicago Tribune, February 20, 1997
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