Winners of the Pulitzer Prize, editors at notable newspapers and Congress reporters – these are the lives of those who had Dennis Jackson as a professor.
Jackson, who passed away May 10, was a writer, lover of author D.H. Lawrence and educator, teaching at the university from 1978-2007. While some may have viewed him as nothing more than a professor, students of his knew him as a leader and a friend.
“Go to his office during office hours and there’d be a line of students out the door waiting to talk to him,” Paul Davies, editor at large and senior editorial writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, said. “It’d be 10 at night and Dennis would still be in the office and just super excited to talk to everyone.”
Some students, such as Davies, were unsure of their career path, crediting Jackson’s news writing and editing class as their path to journalism. Another one of these students was Paul Kane, the senior congressional correspondent for The Washington Post.
Kane, who has gone on to win the Dirksen Award and win Pulitzer Prizes as part of groups at The Washington Post, noted that he signed up for Jackson’s class just to fulfill a requirement. What started as an assignment for class turned into a full-blown investigation into an asbestos case at the university, eventually leading to Kane becoming hooked on journalism.
According to some students, even for those already set on journalism, Jackson stood as a pillar of strength when it came to learning.
“Dr. Jackson was an ideal mentor – passionate, tough and inspiring,” Doug Donovan, a Pulitzer Prize winner who now does communications at Johns Hopkins wrote in a statement to The Review. “Even when you felt like you had failed miserably and embarrassingly he would remind you that that’s how the world of daily journalism – and, by extension, life itself – works.”
Many students shared memories of his red pen that would be used to mark up their papers and his southern twang that would shine through as he critiqued the papers in front of the class.
“He didn’t believe in doing anything half-hearted,” Ben Yagoda, a professor emeritus of English who worked with Jackson, said. “So when he would correct the paper, sometimes it seemed to be more of his writing on it than the students’ writing.”
In addition to being a professor, Jackson served as the university’s director of journalism and faculty advisor for The Review. He also spent decades working on a biography of journalist and colleague Chuck Stone.
Despite his busy life, his former students all stated that he always made time for them.
“Dr. J was THERE for us,” Sharon O’Neil, an editor at the New York Times, wrote in a statement to The Review. “He had our backs. It didn’t matter if it was during class, office hours, on the phone or in person, or late at night.”
However, he was not just there for them when it came to academics.
Jackson remained friends with many of his former students. Whether it be through meetups at a local Friendly’s that turned from breakfast meetings to breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings or get-togethers at his house with former students, he always stayed in touch with students throughout the decades.
“To find a teacher who will take their Saturdays and just spend it with you when you’re a kid is just remarkable,” Richard Jones, managing editor of the opinion section at the Philadelphia Inquirer, said.
More than that, he would make sure he kept tabs on their careers, even once they left the Delaware area. Many students would have hours-long phone calls with him, with some coming back to the area just to meet up with him.
“He just would get you so jazzed up about stuff,” Davies said. “Whenever something happened, no matter how big or small, you’d tell your family, and then he’d be the next person you want to call to tell.”
Even when students could not make time to tell him about their milestones, he always knew anyway – whether it be a new job, achievement or just a general life update.
Kane shared a story about reporting live on MSNBC about the election outcomes in early 2021. Since it was the midst of the pandemic, Kane had on a mask – which just so happened to be a university mask.
It was not until after Jackson’s passing that Kane learned Jackson was watching him on air that day, bragging about Kane’s success while also making fun of his mask choice.
“He would be talking about them all the time,” Yagoda said. “That was sort of his favorite topic, […] former students and what they were doing now. He was like a fanboy of the students.”
Many expressed that he was like an extension of their family, Jones calling him a “second father of sorts.”
“He loved us,” Kane said. “You don’t get people that often who clearly changed so many lives in so many ways. I really have to give him a lot of credit. He was just a really important figure in that regard.”
After retiring from the university, Jackson and his wife moved down to Florida, where he lived out the rest of his days. Davies noted that when he went to visit Jackson in Florida, he seemed “very happy and relaxed.”
“It’s rare to have such a champion who heaps such unconditional love and support who isn’t a relative,” Donovan wrote. “You end up believing what they see in you even if you don’t at first. That’s some great teaching, if you ask me.”
Author’s note: Many of the interviewed sources previously worked at The Review. At the time of publication, none of them have a current relation to the organization. Dennis Jackson was a previous advisor for The Review. At the time of death, he no longer had a connection to the organization.