Ken Greenwood, husband, father,

friend, teacher and mentor,

peacefully passed away

on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

Born in Minnesota on July

29, 1923, raised in Nebraska, he

attended the University of Nebraska

before and after serving in

the Philippines and Japan during

World War II. After graduation

in 1946 as ?Most Likely To Succeed,?

he proceeded to do just

that. His career in broadcasting

led him from sports announcer to executive

and owner of radio stations. From the

beginning he was an innovator, conceiving

the Nebraska State Sports Network, the first

sports network in the country. After radio

jobs in Kansas City, Peoria, Wichita and Des

Moines, he came to Tulsa and KRMG in

1962. In 1963, he became president of Swanco

Broadcasting, which also owned stations

in five other cities. While at KRMG,

he conceived, organized and began ?The

Great Raft Race? on the Arkansas River.

The event drew attention to the recreational

potential of the river and resulted in

the formation of the River Parks Authority.

He was very proud of his efforts for

Children!s Medical Center. He served two

terms on the board, one as President. During

this term, Children?s Medical Center

bought the ARCO Research Center on

Skelly Drive and moved into that location.

In the mid-1960?s, Ken designed, financed

and built Windycrest Sailing Club on Lake

Keystone, then served as its first Commodore.

The club has been cited by Sports Illustrated

as one of the best sailing clubs in

the Southwest. Beginning in 1966, he served

four years as head of the Governor?s Committee

on Tourism under then Governor

Dewey Bartlett. He has been credited as

being ?The Father of Tourism? in Oklahoma

by former governor George Nigh. Ken

served as President of the Oklahoma Association

of Broadcasters in 1968 and 1969.

During his tenure, the two existing weather

systems were consolidated into one statewide

weather system, which included road

conditions from the state highway patrol.

This created a statewide tornado warning

system. He also served as President of the

OAB Foundation, spearheading the scholarship

program. Oklahoma is the only state

association to support a program of this

size. In 1972, the University of Tulsa welcomed

Ken as Head of the Department of

Communications. His wisdom affected the

lives of so many young broadcasters. Also,

through his efforts KWGS Radio was put

back on the air as a university station affiliated

with PBS. His many awards and

honors include induction into the Oklahoma

Association of Broadcasters Hall of

Fame, the Oklahoma Wildlife Federation?s

Conservation Communicator of the Year,

the OAB?s Distinguished Service Award,

Tulsa Advertising Federation?s Ad Man of

the Year, the Ducks Unlimited Conservation

Service Award, the University of Tulsa

Communications Department Hall of Fame,

the American Women in Radio and Television

Distinguished Lifetime Award, the OK

Heritage Distinguished Service

Award for Preservation of State

and Local History, and the League

of Women Voters of Metropolitan

Tulsa Pathfinder Award. He

was one of only two media people

to receive the Mass Media Award

from what was then the National

Conference of Christian and Jews

for his KRMG radio editorials.

He also served for two years on

the National Board of NCCJ. In

1993, as the result of his company,

Greenwood Performance Systems, he was

honored by the Radio Advertising Bureau as

?The Dean of Broadcast Sales ?Irainers.? He

authored three books widely used in broadcasting:

?The Seven Strategies For High

Performance Selling?, ?High Performance

Leadership? and ?Six Days In September?.

In 1997, he received the NatureWorks Stewardship

Award. A monument of a pair of

river otters was placed at 7 st and Riverside

in his honor. At the presentation, former

honoree Joseph H. Williams, then president

of the Williams Companies, described

Ken Greenwood: ?Few individuals have set

their goals so high and surpassed them so

often. Few people with an ethic so strong

and driven by such high purpose have been

willing to work so quietly, wanting neither

public praise nor public power to impose

his dreams on an apathetic world.? Ken

was a founding member of NatureWorks,

a Tulsa-based conservation organization.

He served ten years as its volunteer Executive

Director. Under his leadership, the NatureWorks

Wildlife Art Show and Sale has

emerged as the top wildlife art show in the

country. He also designed and built the first

Oklahoma outdoor classroom at Country

Lane School in Broken Arrow. The classroom

was adapted as a prototype by the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service for some hundred

such classrooms scattered across Oklahoma.

During 1991 to 1994, he served as the Director

of Development for the Oklahoma

Chapter of the Nature Conservancy as it

was being organized. He helped raise fifteen

million dollars to establish the Tallgrass

Prairie Preserve, an environmental

treasure he loved. In 2008, he wrote and

produced ?Cowboys In Tall Grass,? a sevenpart

series of documentaries. It won the

National Cowboy and Western Heritage

Museum?s Wrangler Award for Outstanding

Documentary, and later aired on OETA.

He is survived by his wife, partner and

companion of nearly 69 years, Marian. Also

surviving him are his son, Gil and daughter-

in-law, Meg Greenwood, of Bartlesville;

daughter, Sharon Parker and husband,

Jim Parker, of Tulsa; daughter, Jody Jill

McIntyre of Tulsa. Grandchildren are Kris

Greenwood of Houston, Gina Greenwood

of Oklahoma City, Elise Greenwood of San

Diego, Catie Parker of Tulsa, and Morgan

McIntyre and Harper McIntyre, both of

Tulsa. A funeral service for Ken Greenwood

will be at 1:00 pm on Monday, June

24, at St. John?s Episcopal Church. Memorials

in his name may be made to Nature-

Works (please visit their website at www.

natureworks.org) or any charity of choice.