Editor emeritus John F. ‘Jack’ Fink creates endowment for The Criterion
Criterion staff report
John F. “Jack” Fink, editor emeritus of The Criterion, recently donated $50,000 to create the John F. Fink-Criterion Endowment Fund to benefit the education of The Criterion staff.
“The time was right,” said Fink, who had a unique opportunity last year to donate an IRA distribution without being taxed for the income.
“I’m very much aware of the need for training people so they can make a good contribution to tell the story of the Church,” said Fink, who has worked in Catholic journalism for 60 years. “I thought that would be where I should put the money.”
“This is why I love my job,” said Ellen Brunner, director of the Catholic Community Foundation. “People have the opportunity to say, ‘Here—this is something I’ve saved a long time, and I want to give it here because this is what I care about.’ ”
While Fink intends for the money to assist in staff education, he said he will let Mike Krokos, editor of The Criterion, and Greg Otolski, associate publisher of The Criterion, decide the best use of the money to help train the newspaper’s staff.
“Specifically, I was thinking about going to CPA [Catholic Press Association] workshops,” said Fink. “As [past] president of the CPA and an active member for every year since 1952, I’m very concerned about the work of the CPA.”
Fink served as editor of The Criterion from July 1984 to January 1998. Prior to that, he worked for Our Sunday Visitor, a national weekly Catholic publication, for 30 years, 11 of them as president and publisher.
From 1965 to 1975, he was on the board of directors and served as treasurer, vice president and president of the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada. He was subsequently vice president and then president of the International Federation of Catholic Press Associations.
“Jack has spent most of his life working in Catholic journalism and using his talents to help people live their lives fully as Catholics,” said Otolski. “We’re grateful that Jack has been so generous with his talents and his treasure.
“This endowment will support the work and mission of The Criterion to inform, educate and evangelize by supporting professional development opportunities for our staff as well as the training of young people interested in Catholic journalism” in the form of a stipend for interns, Otolski said.
Fink and his first wife, Marie, who died in 2010, had seven children. He married his current wife, Connie, in 2012. He is a member of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis and has 10 grandchildren.
(For more information about establishing an endowment fund with the Catholic Community Foundation, please contact Ellen Brunner at 317-236-1482, 800-382-9836, ext. 1482, or e-mail her at ebrunner@archindy.org. She will be happy to assist you. You may also visit their planned giving website at www.archindy.org/plannedgiving.) †
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