Nelson Poynter

Poynter, owner of the St. Petersburg Times, arranged before his death in 1978 for his controlling stock to pass to a school he had founded, now the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. The non-profit institute owns the paper, now the Tampa Bay Times, so no outside investor can buy it, and its dividends fund journalism training. Recent losses at the paper have strained that model, a reminder that ownership does not pay the bills.