Kent Ward, a Korean Warn veteran and longtime journalist for the Bangor Daily News, died Sunday at the age of 93.
Ward, who served as a reporter, editor and columnist during his many years at the paper, was named the state’s journalist of the year in 1991 and inducted in the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame in 2004, according to his obituary.
After growing up in Limestone, Ward studied journalism at Becker College in Worcester, Massachusetts. He then worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before being drafted into the Korean War.
His journalism career started after he returned to his hometown in 1954. He spent eight years editing his local paper, the Limestone Leader, then went on to work for the Bangor Daily News in 1962.
Ward initially covered the midcoast as the Knox County bureau chief, then rose through the ranks, transferring to the Bangor office and becoming state editor while also covering politics in Augusta. He eventually became associate managing editor and retired from that role in 1991, but continued to write weekly opinion columns for the next 21 years.
After spending much of his career living in Winterport, Ward moved back to Aroostook County in retirement. He passed away at Aroostook House of Comfort in Presque Isle and is survived by his sister and brother, 15 nieces and nephews, and numerous great-nieces and great-nephews.
