Tom O'Hara
Professional in Residence

304F Franklin Hall
Tel: 330-672-8227
Email: tohara@kent.edu

Spring 2008 Office Hours
Before/After class
and by Appointment

Tom O'Hara, 60, is a professional in residence at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kent State University.

Between November 2000 and September 2007, he was the managing editor of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland.

Before that he worked for The Palm Beach Post for 14 years, the last 11 as managing editor.

He earned a bachelor's degree with honors in Humanities from Rutgers University-Camden, N.J. in 1972 and a master's degree in communications from the University of Florida in 1974. 

He then went on to work at several Florida newspapers including the Gainesville Sun, The Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News Journal,  The Miami Herald and, finally, the Palm Beach Post.

O'Hara is past president and a current member of the board of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and past president of both the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and the Florida First Amendment Foundation.  

In 2006 he was named as one of "Rutgers-Camden Finest," a group of alumni honored for their professional accomplishments since their graduation.

He and his wife Pam have two children ages 17 and 19. They live in Broadview Heights, Ohio.