Longtime Cronkite Teacher Dies

Norm Ginsburg

Norm Ginsburg, a longtime CBS executive who taught parttime at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication for 20 years, died Thursday after a short illness. He was 83.

Ginsburg taught broadcast sales and marketing and oversaw sales and marketing internships at the Cronkite School. He mentored hundreds of Cronkite students who now make up the core of many sales and promotions departments at radio and television stations in the Valley and elsewhere.

“Norm played a significant role in the lives of many young people here at the Cronkite School getting their start in media,” said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan. “He inspired many students, and he will be missed by all of us.”

Ginsburg, who taught his first class in the fall of 1987, retired from teaching last year, shortly after the school honored him as the 2007 Outstanding Faculty Associate.

In presenting him with that award, Cronkite Professor John Craft said, “When I walk into any station in town, I always get the question, ‘How is Norm?’ If you ask Norm, he would say that his greatest accomplishment has been the success of the students who have attended his classes at the Cronkite School.”

Before coming to ASU in 1987, Ginsburg spent 26 years with CBS in New York, where he headed up the marketing department for the radio division. He also worked for the Mutual Broadcasting System, DuMont Television Network, Trans World Airlines and NBC and ran his own public relations agency.

Ginsburg was active in the Arizona Broadcasters Association and was instrumental in the development of the ABA Hall of Fame. He was honored by the association in 2006. Among his other honors was twice being named educator of the year by the American Marketing Association of Phoenix.