Sad News about Professor Emeritus Manny Paraschos

Dear Emerson community members,

We write today to share the sad news that Professor Emeritus Manny Paraschos, who was instrumental in developing the College’s Print Journalism program and was the College’s first Graduate Journalism Program Director, has passed away after a brief illness. Our deepest condolences go out to his family, loved ones, friends, and colleagues.

A member of the Emerson community for 30 years, Manny joined our Journalism faculty in 1988 after teaching at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and chairing the Journalism Department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He was the founding dean of Emerson’s European Institute for International Communication in Maastricht, The Netherlands, from 1991-94. And, in 1995, he was honored with Emerson’s Distinguished Faculty Award. He was named Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in 2018.

Manny’s passion for the history of journalism is evident in the beloved book he published, The Boston Journalism Trail, which is still given to our incoming first-year journalism students, the corresponding website he created, and through his activities in the classroom. Manny was well known for bringing his journalism students each September to the Parkman Bandstand in the Boston Common to read aloud stories from Publick Occurences, the first newspaper published in America, in 1690.

As part of his research for the book, he collected dozens of original copies of newspapers and magazines that tell the stories of the founding of our nation, and the evolution of American journalism. After his retirement, Manny donated to the Emerson Archives those historic Boston newspapers that date back to the 18th century so that generations of Emersonians could continue to learn from them.

Also during his tenure at Emerson, he served as the founder and editor of the Journalism Students’ Online News Service (JSONS), which in 2001 was recognized by Apple as one of the best academic Internet news sites in the nation.  He continued to work with JSONS until his retirement. He taught many classes at Emerson ranging from Discovering Journalism to Press & Propaganda to a variety of classes on writing and reporting and about online journalism. He was also co-publisher with Professor Emeritus Tom Cooper of Media Ethics magazine.

Manny’s scholarly works have also been published in many leading mass communication and journalism journals in the United States and in Europe. His most recent book is titled Media Law and Regulation in the European Union.

Manny’s commitment to his students was also reflected in the generous donations he made in 2018 and 2019 to the College’s Journalism Department fund to support first-generation college students majoring in journalism. To this date, four Emerson journalism students have received support from the fund in his name.

Prior to joining Emerson, In 1986-87 he served as a Fulbright scholar in Scandinavia. He earned Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D degrees from the University of Missouri.

He leaves behind his wife, Janet Nyberg, son Alex, and daughter Sophia. He will be missed by his many friends, colleagues and former students. The College will share additional information about plans to celebrate his life at a future date.

We honor and appreciate all the years of knowledge, service, friendship and humor that Manny shared with us. Please join us in extending our deepest sympathies to Professor Paraschos’ colleagues, friends and family during this difficult time.

Sincerely,

Jay M. Bernhardt, President

Jan Roberts-Breslin, Interim Provost