Scholarship honors memory of Capital Times staffers

A gift from the estate of Ethel M. Parker will establish a scholarship fund to benefit UW–Madison journalism students.

The gift establishes the Cedric M. and Ethel M. Parker Scholarship Fund at the University of Wisconsin Foundation. The School of Journalism and Mass Communication is the beneficiary of the gift, which honors both Ethel and her late husband, long-time newspaperman Cedric M. Parker.

Ethel, who died Sept. 13, 1999 at the age of 97, was a well-known local journalist and teacher. Cedric Parker’s illustrious journalism career spanned 43 years as an investigative reporter, city editor and managing editor of The Capital Times. He died May 18, 1978.

The annual income generated from the fund will be used for undergraduate scholarships in print journalism. The scholarship will be awarded on the basis of merit with recipients selected by a journalism school scholarship committee. Specific details of how many scholarships will be awarded each and in what amounts have not yet been determined.

“The cost of higher education today makes scholarships a critical component of attracting and retaining the top students,” says Sharon Dunwoody, Evjue-Bascom professor and director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “Generous gifts like this one will help us compete for the brightest and the best.”

The couple had a memorable career at The Capital Times where Cedric Parker served as managing editor and Ethel Parker was a general assignment reporter, feature writer and theater editor. A native of Fennimore, Cedric Parker attended the University of Wisconsin and joined the staff of The Capital Times in 1928 as a reporter-photographer. He was the newspaper’s chief investigative reporter in the areas of crime and political corruption during the 1930s and ’40s. Cedric Parker also was active as a labor leader and helped organize the Madison Newspaper Guild.

He was probably best known for his investigative reporting of U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Cedric’s investigation into Sen. McCarthy’s activities exposed McCarthy’s involvement in income tax delinquencies, “quickie divorces” and other illegal activities years before McCarthy became a national figure. For his efforts, Cedric Parker was labeled a communist by McCarthy.

Cedric Parker was honored in 1972 with the Madison Newspaper Guild’s “Page One” award in recognition of his distinguished 45-year career.

Ethel Max was born in Sheboygan and earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in English and education at the UW–Madison. She was a member of the The Capital Times staff from 1926-33. She also taught in Sheboygan and served as continuity director of radio station WHBL during the 1930s and ’40s. Following her 1951 marriage to Parker, she served as public information director for the American Red Cross, Dane County chapter, until 1966.

Her feature articles won Red Cross national awards as the best in the Midwest in 1960 and 1961, and she was awarded the Theta Sigma Phi — now known as the Association for Women in Communications — Writers Cup in 1961. Following her retirement, she continued to serve the Red Cross as a volunteer public information consultant. She also was active as a volunteer with the Wisconsin Mental Health Association.