Walter Dear II was a Western Kentucky newspaper editor and publisher. He was born on June 26, 1932 in Jersey City, NJ into a newspaper family. He was educated in public schools there, graduated in 1953 from University of North Carolina, where he was editor of the Daily Tar Heel. Dear joined family-owned Gleaner and Journal, a morning daily, in Henderson in 1960, and became publisher in 1963. He, his wife and three children purchased the Gleaner, seven west Kentucky weeklies from Dear Publication & Radio in 1986. As company president, he insisted on high standards and aggressive but fair community journalism. He believed strongly in giving young journalists an opportunity. Three photojournalists who launched careers at the Gleaner later won or shared in five Pulitzers. Dear is an active community leader and was named Henderson’s Distinguished Citizen in 1992. He sold his company to Dallas-based A.H. Belo Corp. in March 1997.