Farmer

Eastern European farmer
Occupation
Activity sectors	Agriculture
Description

A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain. A farmer might own the farmed land or might work as a labourer on land owned by others, but in advanced economies, a farmer is usually a farm owner, while employees of the farm are farm workers, farmhands, etc.

Definition[link]

Russian farmer family, Mugan plain, early 20th century

The term farmer usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. Their products might be sold either to a market, in a farmers' market, or directly from a farm. In a subsistence economy, farm products might to some extent be either consumed by the farmer's family or pooled by the community.

More distinct terms are commonly used to denote farmers who raise specific domesticated animals. For example, those who raise grazing livestock, such as cattle, sheep, goats, and horses, are known as ranchers (U.S.), graziers (Australia & U.K.), or simply stockmen. Sheep, goat, and cattle farmers might also be referred to respectively as shepherds, goatherds, and cowherds. The term dairy farmer is applied to those engaged primarily in milk production, whether from cattle, goats, sheep, or other milk producing animals. A poultry farmer is one who concentrates on raising chickens, turkeys, ducks, or geese, for either meat, egg, or feather production, or commonly, all three. A person who raises a variety of vegetables for market may be called a truck farmer or market gardener. Dirt farmer is an American colloquial term for a practical farmer, or one who farms his own land.^[1]

A Nepali farmer

In the context of developing nations or other pre-industrial cultures, most farmers practice a meager subsistence agriculture—a simple organic farming system employing crop rotation, seed saving, slash and burn, or other techniques to maximize efficiency while meeting the needs of the household or community. In developed nations, however, a person using such techniques on small patches of land might be called a gardener and be considered a hobbyist. Alternatively, one might be driven into such practices by poverty or, ironically—against the background of large-scale agribusiness—might become an organic farmer growing for discerning consumers in the local food market. Historically, one subsisting in this way may have been known as a peasant.

Farmers harvesting rice in Japan

In developed nations, a farmer (as a profession) is usually defined as someone with an ownership interest in crops or livestock, and who provides land or management in their production. Those who provide only labor are most often called farmhands. Alternatively, growers who manage farmland for an absentee landowner, sharing the harvest (or its profits) are known as sharecroppers or sharefarmers. In the context of agribusiness, a farmer is defined broadly, and thus many individuals not necessarily engaged in full-time farming can nonetheless legally qualify under agricultural policy for various subsidies, incentives, and tax deductions.

Farmers are often members of local, regional, or national farmers' unions or agricultural producers' organizations and can exert significant political influence. The Grange movement in the United States was effective in advancing farmers' agendas, especially against railroad and agribusiness interests early in the 20th century. The FNSEA is very politically active in France, especially pertaining to genetically modified food. Agricultural producers, both small and large, are represented globally by the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), representing over 600 million farmers through 120 national farmers' unions in 79 countries.^[2]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Farmers

• Agriculture
• Agribusiness
• Agroecology
• Corporate farming
• Family farm
• Farmworker
• Gardening
• Landed gentry
• Organic farming
• Pastoralism
• Peasant
• Sustainable agriculture

References[link]

Rodney Allan Atkins (born March 28, 1969) is an American country music artist. Signed to Curb Records in 1996, he charted his first single on the Billboard country chart in 1997, but did not release an album until 2003's Honesty, which included the number 4 hit "Honesty (Write Me a List)".

If You're Going Through Hell, his second album, was released in 2006. Its first two singles, "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)" and "Watching You", each spent four weeks at the top of the country music chart, and were respectively ranked as the top country songs of 2006 and 2007 according to Billboard Year-End. The album, which has since been certified platinum in the United States, produced two more number 1 singles in "These Are My People" and "Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)". It's America (2009) included the number 1 single "It's America" and the top 5 hit "Farmer's Daughter", which was added to a later reissue of the album. Take a Back Road (2011) produced his sixth number 1 in its title track.

Atkins has received six nominations from the Academy of Country Music and two from the Country Music Association, winning Top New Male Vocalist from the former in 2006.

Biography[link]

Rodney Atkins was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His biological mother, who was 19 at the time, became pregnant with him after a "traumatic first date".^[2] She hid the pregnancy from her parents and put him up for adoption at the Holston United Methodist Home for Children in Greeneville, Tennessee.^[3] His first adoptive parents, Charles Hutchins and Linda Weems, returned him to the home after he developed a major respiratory infection. Allan and Margaret Atkins, who had lost a newborn about a year prior, inquired after the child, but decided not to proceed due to surgery that Margaret had just undergone. Meanwhile, another couple adopted him, but also returned him soon after when he developed colic. After Margaret Atkins recovered, she proceeded to adopt him.^[3][4] Atkins did not meet his biological mother until 2008,^[2] and has never revealed her identity.^[5]

During his youth, the Atkins family moved frequently, eventually settling in Claiborne County, Tennessee. He attended high school at Powell Valley High in Speedwell, Tennessee. During high school, Atkins played guitar in his spare time at events and festivals. He went to college at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tennessee, where he made friends with songwriters and soon began writing himself.^[6] In the mid-1990s, Atkins moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a recording career. He signed with Curb Records in 1996, the same week that LeAnn Rimes did.^[7][8]

Musical career[link]

[edit] Rodney Atkins

Atkins's debut single, "In a Heartbeat", spent one week at number 74 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart dated for August 30, 1997.^[9] Its b-side, "God Only Knows", was also released as a single, but did not chart.^[8] He had also planned to release his debut album on September 17 of the same year, but it was never released due to Atkins' dissatisfaction with his material.^[10] He discussed his dissatisfaction while sitting next to Curb Records owner Mike Curb on an airplane; Curb allowed him to switch producers, and Atkins chose Ted Hewitt, with whom he had been working on demos. Hewitt also changed Atkins' style from a cowboy appearance and a vocal style similar to Roy Orbison to a more polished appearance.^[8] Atkins, Hewitt and Max T. Barnes wrote the track "Don't Think I Won't" on Mark Wills' 1998 album Wish You Were Here,^[11] but he was otherwise inactive until 2002.^[12]

[edit] Honesty

In mid-2002, Rodney Atkins released his third single, "Sing Along". Both it and its followup, "My Old Man", peaked in the lower regions of the Top 40 on the country chart.^[9] He entered the Top 10 for the first time in late 2003-early 2004 with "Honesty (Write Me a List)", which went on to peak at number 4 on the country charts and 57 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was the title track to his album Honesty, which was released by the end of 2003.^[1] "Someone to Share It With" and "Monkey in the Middle" were also issued as singles, with the former peaking at number 41 on the country charts.^[9] Atkins told the Associated Press that he chose to record "Honesty" because he and producer Ted Hewitt wanted a twelfth song for the album, and co-writer David Kent had recommended it to Hewitt.^[13]

Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time gave the album a mixed review. He thought that Atkins seemed too similar in sound to labelmate Tim McGraw, but praised some of the songs for having strong melodies.^[14] A more favorable review came from Matt Bjorke of About.com, who called it a "confident debut from a talented newcomer."^[15]

[edit] If You're Going Through Hell

Having been absent from the country music charts for most of 2004 and 2005, he returned in 2006 with a single entitled "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)", which served as the lead-off to his second released album, If You're Going Through Hell. With this album, Atkins once again changed his musical image. He started wearing baseball caps and performing "songs about his life."^[16] "If You're Going Through Hell" became his first number 1, spending four weeks at the top of the Hot Country Songs charts; it was also the top country hit of 2006 according to Billboard Year-End.^[17]

Following "If You're Going Through Hell" was "Watching You", which Atkins wrote with Steve Dean and Brian Gene White. This song was inspired by Atkins' son, Elijah,^[7] who also stars in its music video.^[18] "Watching You" was also a four-week number 1 hit, and the top country song of 2007 on the Billboard Year-End charts.^[19] "These Are My People" and "Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)" also went to number 1, making If You're Going Through Hell the first country album to include four number 1 singles since Tim McGraw's 2001 album Set This Circus Down.^[20] The album's final single was "Invisibly Shaken", which Lee Greenwood previously recorded on his 2003 album Stronger Than Time.^[21] Atkins' version of the song peaked at number 41.^[9] If You're Going Through Hell received a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of one million copies, while "If You're Going Through Hell", "Watching You" and "Cleaning This Gun" all received gold certifications for 500,000 music downloads.^[9][22] These songs also made top 40 on the Hot 100 while they were climbing the country charts, while "These Are My People" reached number 42.^[9] Atkins also received the 2006 Academy of Country Music award for Top New Male Vocalist, and "If You're Going Through Hell" was nominated for Song of the Year.^[23] Atkins toured in late 2007-early 2008 as an opening act on Brad Paisley's Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour.^[24]

J. Poet of Allmusic gave the album a positive review, praising the "less produced sound" and Atkins' vocals on the singles.^[25] A mixed review came from Country Standard Time, whose Robert Loy criticized Atkins for singing "about what a good ol' boy he is" on several songs, but adding that "it's fairly obvious he's at least as country as anybody else on the charts these days".^[26]

[edit] It's America

Atkins' thirteenth single, "It's America", was released in November 2008. It was the first single from his third album, It's America, released in March 2009. Atkins promoted the album through appearances on Larry King Live and a pre-sale promotion on his website.^[16] On the chart dated May 2, 2009, "It's America" became his fifth number 1 hit. Its followup, "15 Minutes", was released in May 2009 and peaked at number 20 in September. Atkins re-wrote the album's third single, "Chasin' Girls", for his wife to make it more applicable to their life at the time. After executives at Curb saw the lyrics, the re-written version was released as the album's third single,^[27] but did not make top 40. "Farmer's Daughter" followed in early 2010, and after it reached top 5 late in the year, Curb added it to both a re-issue of It's America^[28] and a re-release of If You're Going Through Hell which was sold exclusively at Cracker Barrel restaurants. The latter also included the previously-unreleased song "More Like Your Memory (Always Takes Me Back)".^[29]

It's America received mixed reviews. Todd Sterling of Allmusic and Liz Jungers of Roughstock both criticized it for lacking musical variety.^[28][30] It was more favorably reviewed at Country Standard Time, with critic Jeff Lincoln criticizing the title track as "forced" but saying that otherwise, "Atkins has found his niche of singing about the southern tribe."^[31]

[edit] Take a Back Road

"Take a Back Road", the lead-off single and title track to his fourth album Take a Back Road, was released in April 2011 and became his sixth number 1 late in the year. It also accounted for his highest placement on the Hot 100, at number 23.^[32] The song was co-written by Luke Laird and Rhett Akins, the latter of whom co-wrote "Farmer's Daughter".^[33] "He's Mine" was the album's second single. The song was originally recorded by Billy Ray Cyrus, and Atkins chose to release it because it received positive reactions from fans in concert.^[34] It peaked at number 23 on the country chart in April 2012. "Just Wanna Rock 'n Roll" is the album's third single.^[35]

Country Standard Time called Atkins "the type of wholesome country musician that you would enjoy hanging out with on a Sunday afternoon with your wife and kids."^[36] It received a "B" from Entertainment Weekly, whose Mikael Wood wrote that Atkins "makes for a first-rate correspondent from Anytown, USA."^[37] A less favorable review came from Thom Jurek, who said that "There isn't an original melody, lyric, or production element".^[38]

Family and personal life[link]

He married Tammy Jo McDonald in 1998,^[39] and the two had a son named Elijah.^[40] He also had two stepdaughters, Lindsey and Morgan, from McDonald's previous marriage.^[41]

Atkins was arrested in November 2011 for allegedly trying to smother his wife with a pillow, while his ten year old son watched. He was released on $2,500 bail three hours after the arrest, and was ordered by Williamson County, Tennessee court to take an anger assessment which found no need for any further action.^[42] The altercation was disputed by Atkins' lawyer, who stated that it was purely verbal.^[39] Atkins filed for divorce within twenty-four hours of the alleged assault.^[43] In February 2012, Atkins was cleared of the domestic assault charge.^[42]

Awards and nominations[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Honesty (2003)
• If You're Going Through Hell (2006)
• It's America (2009)
• Take a Back Road (2011)

Number-one singles

• "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)"
• "Watching You"
• "These Are My People"
• "Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)"
• "It's America"
• "Take a Back Road"

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website

Paul Harvey
receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005
Birth name	Paul Harvey Aurandt
Born	(1918-09-04)September 4, 1918 Tulsa, Oklahoma
Died	February 28, 2009(2009-02-28) (aged 90)[1] Phoenix, Arizona
Show	The Rest of the Story, Paul Harvey News and Comment
Network	ABC Radio Networks
Country	United States
Spouse(s)	Lynne "Angel" Cooper Harvey (1940–2008)
Children	Paul Harvey, Jr.

Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009),^[1] better known as Paul Harvey, was an American radio broadcaster for the ABC Radio Networks. He broadcast News and Comment on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays, as well as his famous The Rest of the Story segments. His listening audience was estimated, at its peak, at 24 million people a week.^[2] Paul Harvey News was carried on 1,200 radio stations, 400 Armed Forces Network stations and 300 newspapers. His broadcasts and newspaper columns have been reprinted in the Congressional Record more than those of any other commentator.^[3]

The most noticeable features of Harvey's folksy delivery were his dramatic pauses and quirky intonations.

His success with sponsors stemmed from the seamlessness with which he segued from his monologue into reading commercial messages. He explained his relationship with them, saying "I am fiercely loyal to those willing to put their money where my mouth is."^[4]

Career[link]

Early years[link]

The son of a policeman,^[5] Harvey made radio receivers as a young boy. He attended Tulsa Central High School where a teacher, Isabelle Ronan, was "impressed by his voice." On her recommendation, he started working at KVOO in Tulsa in 1933, when he was 14. His first job was helping clean up. Eventually he was allowed to fill in on the air, reading commercials and the news.^[6][7][8]

While attending the University of Tulsa, he continued working at KVOO, first as an announcer, and later as a program director. Harvey, at age nineteen spent three years as^[9] a station manager for KFBI AM, now known as KFDI, a local station in Salina, Kansas. From there, he moved to a newscasting job at KOMA in Oklahoma City, and then to KXOK, in St. Louis, where he was Director of Special Events and a roving reporter.

Harvey then moved to Hawaii to cover the United States Navy as it concentrated its fleet in the Pacific. He was returning to the mainland from assignment when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He eventually enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces but served only from December 1943 to March 1944. His critics^[specify] claimed he was given a psychiatric discharge for deliberately injuring himself in the heel. Harvey angrily denied the accusation, but was vague about details: "There was a little training accident...a minor cut on the obstacle course...I don't recall seeing anyone I knew who was a psychiatrist...I cannot tell you the exact wording on my discharge."^[10]

Move to Chicago[link]

Harvey then moved to Chicago, where in June 1944, he began broadcasting from the ABC affiliate WENR. In 1945, he began hosting the postwar employment program Jobs for G.I. Joe on WENR. Harvey added The Rest of the Story as a tagline to in-depth feature stories in 1946.

One of Harvey's regular topics was lax security, in particular at Argonne National Laboratory, a nuclear test site located 20 miles (32 km) west of Chicago.^[5] To demonstrate his concern, just after midnight on February 6, 1951, Harvey engaged in an "act of participatory journalism"; as The Washington Post described it in 2010, after obtaining 1400 pages of the FBI file on Harvey:^[5][11]

Harvey guided his black Cadillac Fleetwood toward Argonne, arriving sometime past midnight. He parked in a secluded spot, tossed his overcoat onto the barbed wire topping a fence, then scampered over....Harvey['s plan was] to scratch his signature on 'objects that could not possibly have been brought to the site by someone else,' according to a statement later given by an off-duty guard who accompanied him....But seconds after Harvey hit the ground, security officers spotted him....Harvey ran until, caught in a Jeep's headlights, he tripped and fell. As guards approached, Harvey sprang to his feet and waved. Guards asked whether Harvey realized he was in a restricted area. Harvey replied no, that he thought he might be at the airport because of the red lights.....Harvey told the authorities he had been headed to a neighboring town to give a speech when his car died....Under questioning, Harvey eventually dropped his cover story but refused to elaborate, saying he wanted to tell his tale before a congressional committee. Guards searched his Cadillac and found ... a four-page, typewritten script for an upcoming broadcast. Harvey, it turned out, had planned from the outset to feed the nation a bogus account of his escapade: "I hereby affirm the following is a true and accurate account," the script began. "My friend and I were driving a once-familiar road, when the car stalled....We started to walk....We made no effort to conceal our presence....Suddenly I realized where I was. That I had entered, unchallenged, one of the United States' vital atomic research installations....Quite by accident, understand, I had found myself inside the 'hot' area....We could have carried a bomb in, or classified documents out.

Harvey's "escapade" prompted the U.S. attorney for Illinois to empanel a grand jury to consider an espionage indictment; Harvey "went on the air to suggest he was being set up"; the grand jury subsequently declined to indict Harvey.^[5]

On April 1, 1951, before the grand jury's decision,^[5] the ABC Radio Network debuted Paul Harvey News and Comment "Commentary and analysis of Paul Harvey each weekday at 12 Noon". Paul Harvey was also heard originally on Sundays; the first Sunday program was Harvey's introduction. Later, the Sunday program would move to Saturdays. The program continued until his death.

From the late 1960s through the early 1980s, there was a televised, five-minute editorial by Paul Harvey that local stations could insert into their local news programs or show separately.

In the latter half of his career, Paul Harvey was also known for the radio series The Rest of the Story, described as a blend of mystery and history, which premiered on May 10, 1976. The series quickly grew to six broadcasts a week, and continued until Harvey's death in 2009. The Rest of the Story series was written and produced by the broadcaster's son, Paul Harvey, Jr., from its outset and for its thirty-three year duration. Harvey and his radio network stated that the stories in that series, although entertaining, were completely true.^[12] This was contested by some critics, including urban legend expert Jan Harold Brunvand.^[13]

In November 2000, Harvey signed a 10-year, $100M contract with ABC Radio Networks. A few months later, after damaging his vocal cords, he went off the air, but returned in August 2001.

Fill-in hosts[link]

Former Senator Fred Thompson, known for his work on NBC's Law and Order, substituted for Harvey regularly from 2006 to 2007, prior to his unsuccessful run for President. Thompson left the network to run and did not return, instead joining Westwood One in January 2009. Other substitutes for Harvey have included his son, Paul Harvey, Jr.,^[14] Doug Limerick,^[15] Paul W. Smith,^[16] Gil Gross,^[17] Ron Chapman,^[18] Mitt Romney,^[19] Mike Huckabee,^[20] Mort Crim, Scott Shannon, and Tony Snow. After Huckabee's sub-hosting, ABC offered him a spin-off program, The Huckabee Report, which launched early in 2009. Gross (morning) and Limerick (afternoons) were named Harvey's eventual successors, but three weeks after Harvey's death, the entire News and Comment franchise was canceled.

Harvey did not host the show full-time after April 2008, when he came down with pneumonia. Shortly after his recovery, his wife died on May 3, causing him to prolong his time away from broadcasting. He voiced commercials, new episodes of The Rest of the Story and News & Comment during middays a few times a week, with his son handling mornings.

On-air persona, catch phrases, trademarks, and off-air interest[link]

Harvey's on-air persona was influenced by that of sportscaster Bill Stern. During the 1940s, Stern's The Colgate Sports Reel and newsreel programs used many of the techniques later used by Harvey, including his emphatic style of delivery, and the use of phrases such as Reel Two and Reel Three to denote segments of the broadcast—much like Harvey's Page Two and Page Three.^[21][22]

Harvey was also known for catch phrases he used at the beginning of his programs, such as "Hello Americans, I'm Paul Harvey. You know what the news is, in a minute, you're going to hear ... the rest of the story." He always ended, "Paul Harvey ... Good day." A story might be "This day's news of most lasting significance." At the end of a report about someone who had done something ridiculous or offensive, Harvey would say, "He would want us to mention his name," followed by silence, then would start the next item. The last item of a broadcast, which was often a funny story, would usually be preceded by "For what it's worth."

Other phrases made famous by Harvey included "Here's a strange..." (a story with an unusual twist) and "Self-government won't work without self-discipline."^[23]

In addition to the inquiry into whether Harvey's Rest of the Story tales are true, Harvey's trademark ability to seamlessly migrate from content to commercial brought scrutiny. In that context, Salon magazine called him the "finest huckster ever to roam the airwaves."^[24] Some have argued that Harvey's fawning and lavish product endorsements may be misleading or confusing to his audience. Harvey's endorsed products included EdenPure heaters, Bose radios, Select Comfort mattresses, and Hi-Health dietary supplements, including a supplement that was claimed to improve vision but was later the subject of a Federal Trade Commission enforcement action against the manufacturer (but not Harvey himself) for misleading claims made on Harvey's show.^[25] In one of the tribute broadcasts, Gil Gross said Harvey considered advertising just another type of news, and he only endorsed products he believed in, often interviewing someone from the company.

Harvey was also an avid pilot. He had been an Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association member for more than 50 years, and would occasionally talk about flying to his radio audience. He also was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, and was frequently seen at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis. He was responsible for funding the Paul Harvey Audio-Video Center at EAA headquarters in Oshkosh. According to AOPA Pilot contributing editor Barry Schiff, Harvey coined the term “skyjack.” He is also credited with coining "Reaganomics" and "guesstimate."^[26]

His car of choice was the Cadillac. His Illinois license plates read PH.^{[citation needed]} Chicago officially recognized his accomplishments by naming one of the streets near the Loop, "Paul Harvey Drive".

Beginning in 1952, Harvey was a friend of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover; the men were introduced to each other by Rep. Fred Busbey (R-Illinois); Harvey would often submit "advance copies of his radio script for comment and approval."^[5] It is believed that Harvey's friendship with Hoover helped Harvey escape criminal charges relating to his trespassing at Argonne National Laboratory. Harvey was also a close friend of Senator Joseph McCarthy and supporter of his search for Communists.^[27]

Harvey was also a close friend of Reverend Billy Graham.^[10] From the mid 1970s until the mid 1980s, Harvey attended Calvary Memorial Church, in Oak Park.^{[citation needed]} When the church moved from its original location on Madison Street to the former Presbyterian Church on Lake Street, Harvey asked his friend Graham to preach at the dedication service.^{[citation needed]} Paul Harvey associated with various congregations of different denominations.^[28] He and his wife regularly attended the Camelback Adventist Church in Scottsdale, Arizona during his winters there.^[29] He often quoted Adventist pioneer Ellen G. White in his broadcasts and received the "Golden Microphone" Award for his professionalism and graciousness in dealing with the church.^[30][31]

Awards[link]

Harvey was named Salesman of the Year, Commentator of the Year, Person of the Year, Father of the Year, and American of the Year. He was elected to the National Association of Broadcasters National Radio Hall of Fame and Oklahoma Hall of Fame, and appeared on the Gallup poll list of America's most admired men. In addition he received 11 Freedom Foundation Awards as well as the Horatio Alger Award. Paul Harvey was named to the DeMolay Hall of Fame, a Masonic youth organization, on June 25, 1993.

In 2005, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' most prestigious civilian award, by President George W. Bush.^[32]

On May 18, 2007, he received an honorary degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

Family[link]

Paul Harvey was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Harry Harrison Aurandt (1873–1921) and Anna Dagmar (née Christensen) Aurandt (1883–1960). His father was born in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania; his mother was a native of Denmark. He had one sibling, an older sister Frances Harrietta (née Aurandt) Price (1908–1988).

In 1921, when Harvey was three years old, his father was murdered. He and a friend—a Tulsa police detective—were rabbit hunting while off-duty when approached by four armed men who attempted to rob them. Aurandt was shot and died two days later of his wounds. The four robbers were identified by the surviving detective, and arrested the day after Aurandt died. A lynch mob of 1,500 people formed at the jail, but all four were smuggled out, tried, convicted, and received life terms.^[33]

In 1940, Harvey married Lynne Cooper of St. Louis. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa at Washington University in St. Louis^[34] and a former schoolteacher.^[35] They met when Harvey was working at KXOK and Cooper came to the station for a school news program. Harvey invited her to dinner, proposed to her after a few minutes of conversation and from then on called her "Angel," even on his radio show. A year later she said yes. The couple moved to Chicago in 1944.^[34]

On May 17, 2007, Harvey told his radio audience that Angel had developed leukemia. Her death, at the age of 92, was announced by ABC radio on May 3, 2008.^[36] When she died at their River Forest home, the Chicago Sun-Times described her as, "More than his astute business partner and producer, she also was a pioneer for women in radio and an influential figure in her own right for decades." According to the founder of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Bruce DuMont, "She was to Paul Harvey what Colonel Parker was to Elvis Presley. She really put him on track to have the phenomenal career that his career has been."^[37]

Lynne Harvey was the first producer ever inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, and had developed some of her husband's best-known features, such as "The Rest of the Story."^[34] While working on her husband's radio show, she established 10 p.m. as the hour in which news is broadcast. She was the first woman to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Chicago chapter of American Women in Radio and Television.^[36] She worked in television also, and created a television show called Dilemma which is acknowledged as the prototype of the modern talk show genre. While working at CBS, she was among the first women to produce an entire newscast. In later years, she was best known as a philanthropist.^[38]

They had one son, Paul Aurandt, Jr., who goes by the name Paul Harvey, Jr. He assisted his father at News and Comment and The Rest of the Story. Paul, Jr., whose voice announced the bumpers into and out of each News and Comment episode, filled in for his father during broadcasts and broadcast the morning editions after the passing of his mother.

Death and tributes[link]

Wikinews has related news: Broadcaster Paul Harvey dies

Harvey died on February 28, 2009, at the age of 90 at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, surrounded by family and friends. No cause of death was announced. In response to his father's death, his son, Paul Harvey Jr., said, "millions have lost a friend".^[39] At the time of his death, he had less than two years left on his ten-year contract. Former President George W. Bush issued a statement on Harvey's death, calling Harvey: "a friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans."^[40]

On March 4, Gil Gross was chosen to become the next host of News & Comment.^[41] New owners Citadel Broadcasting, who bought ABC Radio from Disney in 2008, chose Mike Huckabee instead but the show lasted only one week before it was taken off the air.^[42]

Harvey's full-length biography, Good Day! The Paul Harvey Story, was published in May 2009 by Regnery Publishing.^[28]

Books[link]

• Autumn of Liberty. Garden City, New York: Hanover House, 1954.
• The Rest of the Story. Garden City, New York: Hanover House, 1956.
• Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor. Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1975.
• Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977. ISBN 0-385-12768-5
• More of Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story. New York: William Morrow, 1980, ISBN 0-688-03669-4
• Destiny: From Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story. New York: William Morrow, 1983, ISBN 0-688-02205-7
• Paul Harvey's For What It's Worth. New York: Bantam Books, 1991, ISBN 0-553-07720-1.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Paul Harvey

• Paul Harvey official website
• Paul Harvey at the National Radio Hall of Fame
• Paul Harvey at Find a Grave
• The Right of the Story Is Paul Harvey's reporting accurate?
• Report/Obituary in the Chicago Tribune
• Photo gallery in the Chicago Sun-Times
• Paul Harvey, Newscaster, dies at 90
• McFadden, Robert D. "Paul Harvey, Homespun Radio Voice of Middle America, Is Dead at 90," The New York Times, Monday, March 2, 2009.
• "Paul Harvey . . . Good Day! Remembering an American original" – Wall Street Journal – March 4, 2009
• A look at Paul Harvey's Radio Studios c. 2004
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Harvey, Paul

Penny Pritzker
Born	1959/1960 (age 52–53)[1] Chicago, Illinois
Residence	Chicago, Illinois
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Harvard University, Stanford University
Occupation	Businesswoman
Net worth	US $ 1.7 billion (est.) (September 2011)[1]
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Bryan Traubert
Children	two

Penny Sue Pritzker (born 1959) is an American business executive, and a member of the Pritzker family of Chicago, one of America's wealthiest business families. She is the founder and current Chair of Classic Residence by Hyatt, or Vi, a chain of luxury senior living communities spread throughout the United States, and the national finance chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. In 2011 the Forbes 400 list of "America's wealthiest" showed her as the 263rd richest person in the U.S., estimated net worth of US $1.7 billion.^[2] Also in 2011 Forbes listed her as the world's 651st richest person.^[2]

On November 20, 2008, CNN reported that Pritzker was Barack Obama's top choice for Commerce Secretary, quoting "multiple" unnamed sources.^[3] However, it was later reported that because of her involvement in the failure of subprime lender Superior Bank, Pritzker took herself out of the running.^[4][5][6]

Biography[link]

Born in 1959, Pritzker is a member of the Pritzker family, a notable and influential Jewish American business family. Pritzker is a daughter of Sue (Sandel)^[7] and Donald N. Pritzker (1932–1972), co-founder of the Hyatt hotel chain, which grew dramatically under his leadership as President from 1959 until his death in 1972. She attended Castilleja School^[8] until 1977.^[9] She earned a BA in Economics from Harvard College (1981), and a JD/MBA from Stanford University (1984).^[10]

Career highlights[link]

• 1998 – co-founded The Parking Spot, the fastest growing company in off-site airport parking management,^[11] with CEO Martin Nesbitt. She continues as chair.

Philanthropic activities[link]

Pritzker is involved in the reform of Chicago’s public education system. Currently she is chair^[12][13] of the Chicago Public Education Fund, the successor organization to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.^[14]

Political involvements[link]

Pritzker contributed some $493,174^[15] to numerous campaigns and political action committees since the 2000 election cycle. Among the recipients have been the presidential campaigns and exploratory committees, including those of George W. Bush, Joe Lieberman, Bill Bradley, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain (2000), Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.^[16]

Since the spring of 2008, Pritzker has served as Barack Obama's National Finance Chair.^[17] On Wednesday July 2, 2008, Ms. Pritzker and her husband hosted a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Mr. Obama's campaign in Chicago with Warren Buffett and his wife, and Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett. ^[18]

She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations^[19] and President Barack Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Superior Bank involvement[link]

Ms. Pritzker has been associated with the Subprime mortgage crisis. Ms. Pritzker's late uncle, Jay Pritzker, purchased a 50% stake in Hinsdale, Illinois-based Superior Bank of Chicago in 1989 from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which had taken over the bank when it failed in the late 1980s.^[20] Penny Pritzker became chairman of the bank in 1991. Under Ms. Pritzker's chairmanship, the bank "embarked on a business strategy of significant growth into subprime home mortgages," according to a 2002 report by the United States Treasury Department.^[20] She stepped down from the chairmanship in 1994 but continued to serve on the board of the holding company, Coast to Coast. In the months leading up to the 2001 seizure, she tried to work out a major recapitalization plan to "once again restore Superior's leadership position in subprime lending."^[20] In July 2001, FDIC seized the bank after the recapitalization could not be resolved. .^[21][22] Subsequently, the Pritzker family reached an agreement with regulators to pay $460 million over 15 years toward the costs of the closure; these funds will go towards reducing the costs of the FDIC's losses and partially reimburse depositors with accounts in excess of FDIC insurance limits.^{[20][23][24][25]}

More than a thousand Superior Bank depositors are still owed money, and industry experts have criticized Pritzker's handling of the situation.^[26] Consumer advocates as well as government investigators have asserted Superior "engaged in unsound financial activities and predatory lending practices."^[20] Responding to questions from the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Pritzker noted she had no ownership in the bank, either direct or indirect, and that the bank's reasons for failure "were complex. They include changes in accounting practices, auditing failures, reversals in regulatory positions and general economic conditions."^[20] She said the bank complied with "fair lending laws" and ethical business practices.^[20] Writing about the largest thrift failure in almost a decade, the FDIC in 2002 noted that the bank had paid out $200 million in dividends during a time of seemingly rising profits; in reality, these profits were a product of "flawed" accounting and masked operating losses.^[20] Pritzker noted in turn that Superior's financial statements were found to be acceptable by regulators for many years before the failure.^[20] A 2001 Business Week article described the bank's other half-owner, Alvin Dworman, as the more dominant partner in its operation as a result of agreements Jay Pritzker made early on.^[21] Quoted in the New York Times about the failure of the bank, a Pritzker family friend observed Pritzker was trapped in a deal of her uncle's making: "Penny got sucked into this … This was really the legacy of Jay." ^[27] Yet Jay Pritzker passed away in 1999 and the bank got in trouble and was shut down in 2001, and Penny Pritzker endorsed the bank's subprime lending practices and badly mishandled the bank's finances as evidenced in a letter written by her just months before the bank's collapse. In it she wrote she intended to "once again restore Superior's leadership position in subprime lending.".^[26]

Breakup of Pritzker Empire[link]

Accused of looting family trusts, Ms. Pritzker and cousins Tom and Nick were sued by cousin Liesel Pritzker and Matthew Pritzker who claimed fraud and sought damages in excess of $6 billion.^[28] In early 2005, the parties settled the lawsuit which led to the family fortune being split 11 ways, resulting in 10 more Pritzkers joining the Forbes 400; the most members of any family.^[29] Under the settlement, Liesel and Matthew each received roughly U.S. $280 million in cash and were given more control over other trusts valued at about U.S. $170 million each.^[30]

See also[link]

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• List of JD/MBAs
• Office of Thrift Supervision

References[link]