Personality Profile

Edward Hood Dawson, Jr. is the editor and publisher of the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper. In 1966, he was attending high school in Chester, S.C., his sister, Ann, is the reason he became interested in journalism. She was the editor of the newspaper then and needed someone to cover the homecoming football game. She asked her brother and he accepted. From then on he was hooked. He later took over the editor job that was once his sister’s.


Mr. Dawson was a man who didn’t care about being well-known.


“I have worked for a lot of good newspapers and with a lot of good people. Those are the things I think most about. Some of it involves awards but, I guess I think more about the organizations and the people that I’ve gotten to know,” Ed said.


Leah Edwards, the Media Communication Specialist at Marshall University, said “I have worked with Ed on several different community projects. I’ve always found him to be a levelheaded and calm person, who is genuinely interested in making our community a great place to live.


When Dawson went off to the Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C., he wrote for the paper there as well. Before he graduated he was the editor there also. While in his free time during college he also did some reporting for the local newspaper.


Edward Hood Dawson Jr. was born on Aug 11, 1949 in Chester, S.C. to Edward Hood Dawson Sr. and Caroline Pryor Marion Dawson. He has two siblings: Ann Dawson Castle and Bob Dawson. He graduated from Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C. with a degree in history and earned a master’s degree in mass communications at the University of South Carolina.


After college Ed met his wife, Cindy. They met through friends in Charlotte, N.C. They have two children: Hood Dawson, who is a junior at the University of South Carolina and May Dawson of Charlotte, N.C.


Before becoming the editor and publisher of the Herald-Dispatch he worked at several other newspapers. He was the editor at the Public Opinion in Chambersburg, P.A. for two years, the editor at the Ashville Citizen Times in Ashville, N.C. for ten years, he did news editing at Greenville News Piedmont in Greenville, S.C. and at the Augusta Chronicle in Augusta, G.A., and reporting at the Chester news and Reporter in Chester, S.C.


Whether you are in the journalism field or wondering what exactly to do with your life, Ed Dawson is a real inspiration. He has accomplished everything from just helping out his sister one Friday night.