Remembering Ken Sanford, Charlotte’s first public relations leader
James Kenneth (Ken) Sanford, UNC Charlotte’s first director of public information and publications, died Monday, Aug. 25.
Sanford joined Charlotte College in 1964 prior to its designation the following year as the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He served the institution for 30 years before retiring in 1994, having worked alongside President Bonnie Cone and Chancellors Dean Colvard, E.K. Fretwell and James Woodward.
In 1996, Sanford authored “Charlotte and UNC Charlotte Growing Up Together,” a seminal history of the University’s founding. The book chronicles the visionary leadership of Cone and the community luminaries who endeavored to establish a public university in Charlotte, a city whose population grew rapidly from 120,000 to a metropolitan hub that at the time was approaching the one million mark.
Sanford explains in the book’s introduction the obligation he felt to write it. “I experienced a privilege that few have — watching a university develop from infancy to maturing over such a short period of time.” Atkins Library Special Collections contains the J. Kenneth Sanford papers, which consist almost entirely of the book’s rough drafts.
“While I was serving as provost, Ken was my ‘go to’ source when I needed to understand the history of an issue,” said Chancellor Emeritus Philip L. Dubois. “His lasting legacy is his book about the founding of Charlotte College and its evolution into UNC Charlotte. It’s an amazing story and he told it like no one else could.”
A graduate of Mars Hill College and UNC Chapel Hill, Sanford served in the U.S. Army prior to completing a master’s degree in journalism from UNC. His professional career began at the Winston-Salem Journal, where he was copy editor, assistant state editor, news editor and editorial writer.
During his career, Sanford served as president of the Charlotte and North Carolina chapters of The Public Relations Society of America and the College News Association of the Carolinas. In 1995, he was inducted into the North Carolina Public Relations Hall of Fame. A memorial service will be at 2 p.m., Sept. 12, at St. John’s Baptist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina. Online condolences may be shared at Kenneth Poe Funeral Services. Read Sanford’s online obituary.